Fire and Ice
by Piano'sIrishTater
Summary: With the risk of an assassination heavy in the icy winter air, Lukas, the Prince of Norway, has been assigned a bodyguard who would do anything for him, no matter the cost...but does the true hazard lurk deep within the castle's heart?
1. Ignite

**This is an edit of an old story that I decided to pick up again :) I've given both Norway and Denmark different names than I originally had, as I'm going with what I've heard they are! So Lukas is Norway, Mathias is Denmark, and Erick is Iceland! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it~**

Standing by the pond, the wind ripped through my jacket, tearing at my skin, lifting my scarf from my face. I felt the icy burn creeping up my spine, my body crying at me to move, to escape this desolate emptiness…too many shades of gray, white snow falling all around me, gently riding the wind before coming to a peaceful stop beneath my unmoving feet. Carefully, I lifted a hand and caught the nearest flake, bringing it to my face to examine it before it melted away, its crystalline form a fleeting, mysterious beauty.

Through a child's eyes, there was nothing more fantastic than the first snowfall of the year.

Breathing in the frigid air deeply, I turned from my reflection on the iced surface of the water to the dark sky, watching the clouds shift and reform themselves. My mind failed to make the shapes it used to find carelessly; I now had to think to see the pictures. Somewhere behind this dreary wall of gray, I knew there shined an inextinguishable light, and yet it remained invisible, hiding, continuously striving to break through…

"Prince Lukas, please return to the palace. Your father is waiting for you."

The voice penetrated through the silent air, a cacophony to my unsuspecting ears. Disturbed, I found myself turning, gripping my jacket closer to myself. "I will. When I feel like it," I said simply, looking into the concerned eyes of my maid.

She gave me a submissive curtsy, ducking her head. "But your father insists, Your Majesty. He demanded to see you at once."

Sighing, my breath puffing out curiously, I gave my haven one last glance before trudging back through the snow, the maid not far behind. As I stepped in the door, another servant removed my winter clothing and boots delicately, being careful not to touch a single part of my body, just as my father had ordered him.

I gave him a nod, padding gently across the wooden floor of the entrance way in my sock feet to where my father sat, relaxing in his chair by the fireplace. Respectfully, I bowed before him, the way that had been drilled into my head since I'd been old enough to stand. I could feel his cold blue eyes watching my every movement judgmentally, even as I stood up straight and took a seat next to him. I didn't dare look him in the face.

"Lukas," he grumbled solemnly, his voice unusually calm.

Was he…not angry with me? Pensively, I glanced over at his expression, only to find his eyes filled to the brim not with the usual hatred, but with something close to unease.

"Father?"

I waited patiently as he collected his thoughts, scratching his long, coarse beard and gazing over me as if I weren't there. "Lukas, I have received word from a reliable source that our family is being targeted. An antimonarchy group has sent out several assassins to destroy the royal family and all its members. As a result of this, your ridiculous sneaking out will no longer be tolerated as some childish game. For the safety of you, the Prince of Norway, you will be spending all your time in your bedroom, with meals being the only exception." I opened my mouth in furious protest, but he silenced me with a glare. "There will be no arguments! You will do what I say, or you will be punished!"

I gazed at him evenly, livid under his control. "Yes, Father." The words tasted like poison.

"Another result…" he began, clearing his throat and looking uncertain yet again. "Each member of the family will be receiving a bodyguard. I have personally selected the most elite of the academy and assigned you a guard based on his physical strength and dedication."

Surprised, I looked to the door, hearing hushed speaking. "Father, isn't the academy in Denmark? How am I to understand this man if he speaks Danish?"

He followed my eyes to the door. "It will not be an issue; he is all but fluent in Norwegian. But you will see that for yourself …Mathias! You may enter!"

Curious, I watched as a tall boy entered the room, seemingly confident in himself. His blond hair was spiked up haphazardly, with a strange hat perched at the top, and his smile was incredible. Dressed in all black, his muscles bulged under the tight restraints of his shirt as he bowed to my father, his voice shockingly cheerfully as he said, "Your Majesty," and kissed his hand.

Immediately, I understood my father's apparent concern. This was a teenager; not just that, but one with an obviously agreeable disposition. How could such a man become the heartless bodyguard my father intended for me to have?

"Mathias, you will bow before your prince as well."

Mathias bobbed his head in a clumsy nod, turning to face me. Getting down again, he reached in to take my hand, but I pulled away quickly, unwilling to be touched. Shocked, he stumbled over his lines for just a moment before grinning and whispering, "Hello, My Prince."

I shivered at his tone, unsure whether to be disgusted or aroused by his flirtatious demeanor.

"You may call me Prince Lukas," I told him, hating the way his grin widened. "Nothing else."

My father cleared his throat forcefully, clearly uncomfortable that Mathias existed. "You will absolutely give yourself to my son's desires. You will protect him with your life and you will never leave him for a second, is that clear, child? You have been made a bed beside his so that you may be with him day and night. And," he added, his voice taking on a threatening pitch. "If something happens…it will be your head. Now take him to his room; it is time for him to study his lessons."

Mathias, with another over-the-top flourish, left the room, gently gesturing for me to go ahead of him. I let him lead me to my room, watching as he became abruptly serious, his formerly somewhat childish nature gone as he began his job of protecting me. Even when we made it to my bedroom, he didn't let down his guard, making sure I was in his line of sight every second. Only when I'd sat down at my desk and pulled out a worksheet did he begin to even remotely relax.

"What're you working on?" he asked, sauntering up beside me, his grin back in place.

I ignored him coldly, choosing instead to stare out the frosty panes of my bay window longingly. To be by my pond again, gazing into the cool, frozen ripples….my haven…

"What're you working on?" he asked again, breaking my concentration.

I turned to him. "Please refrain from speaking to me," I answered in annoyance, watching his face fall. "Unless a situation requires it. Other than that, I expect you to be quiet."

He frowned, but muttered, "Yes, Prince Lukas," and entertained himself by playing with something he pulled out of his pocket.

I tried to ignore the pangs of curiosity surging through me as I worked, but in the end, they refused to be sated. I looked over at Mathias; in his hands he held a simple, multicolored ball of string. It amazed me how any man could be so entirely enthralled in something so mundane…yet he seemed to be having a great time, figuring out how to untangle it and then threading it around his fingers. I watched tersely as he continued, until he noticed me staring.

Realizing it would be futile to act as if he hadn't seen me watching, I simply narrowed my eyes and asked, my voice monotone, "Why are you playing with string?"

He grinned, his brow furrowing as he came across a difficult knot. "Well, Prince Lukas, if I can't talk to you, what am I supposed to do?"

Calculating, I spotted his trouble spot in releasing the knot, yet he didn't seem to notice it in the least. He seemed to be just tugging and pulling aimlessly… "You'll never get anywhere like that," I scolded, stealing the ball from him and untangling it. "You can't just pull at it if you want to get the knot out." Satisfied with my work, I handed the yarn back to him and turned back to my math work.

He blinked, dumbfounded. "You can actually see how to untangle knots?"

Without turning, I mumbled, "Yes. And so could you if you weren't a Danish halfwit."

Just as he was about to speak again, a soft knock came from the door. Mathias, being the brave, strong bodyguard he thought he was, offered to get it, in case it might be an assassin.

"What kind of dumbass assassin knocks on my bedroom door before shooting me to death?" I asked, but he went and answered it anyway.

"State your name and purpose," he growled, trying to sound tough.

I swiveled around in my chair to find my younger brother standing at the door, looking indifferently past Mathias to where I sat. "Father says dinner will be at 6:30 tonight and not to be late."

"Father…oh!" Mathias gasped. "You're Prince Erick!"

Erick scowled at him, but said nothing else before turning and strutting away, obviously disturbed that I had let my bodyguard speak for me. He'd never been a fan of owning a staff period, not to mention hiring bodyguards. He wouldn't even let our maids set the table for him.

I rolled my eyes and pretended to focus on my homework. "You forgot I had a younger brother?"

Mathias just chuckled, sitting back down to mess with his yarn ball. "Well maybe if you two actually looked somewhat related, it wouldn't have been so confusing…"

"He takes after our mother. I take after our father. As I was saying, it doesn't take a genius. However, you clearly aren't one. You're quite the simpleton, really."

Getting stuck on another knot, he abandoned the string and came over to stand behind me, staring down at my calculus in amazement. "So….how old are you exactly, Prince Nickolai?"

"As of today, I am sixteen," I answered simply, solving a complex word problem with ease.

"And you're doing THIS?! I'm seventeen and I don't even know what half of the stuff you're writing means!" he said, his light blue eyes widening. Then his shock turned into a shifty, somewhat promiscuous grin. "But that's because you're so incredible, Lukas!"

I could tell he was attempting to butter me up, but it didn't slip past my mind that he'd called me only "Lukas." With malice, I pushed away from my desk. "You will refer to me as PRINCE Lukas! And I do believe I told you I would not be speaking to you unless it was absolutely necessary. You are my bodyguard and are paid to be such; you will not be my friend. I don't do such nonsense."

"I apologize, PRINCE Lukas, but-"

I turned a sharp glare toward him. "No buts. You will speak only when spoken to and I will not be your friend. There's no such thing as a bodyguard and a royal prince becoming friends."

He looked down, my orders weighing on him. "Yes, Prince Lukas…I just wanted to say Happy Birthday."

Surprised, I couldn't help but study Mathias for another minute. "Thank you," I said after a long pause, "but we don't celebrate birthdays in the palace. Despite it being my sixteenth, there will be nothing. At least since my mother passed away."

His eyes softened, taking on a gentle look. "May I speak?"

I nodded curtly.

"What if you and I celebrated it together? I could get the cook to bake you a cake! And we could invite all your friends over to your room and throw a mini-ball type thing!"

His idea surprised me and the image in my mind was amusing at the very least, but…the guests had no faces…"Who would I invite? I have no friends; I've never been outside the castle grounds in my life."

"For real?! You're like some type of Disney princess! Do you sneak out sometimes and sing to the creatures of the forest, too?" he joked, clearly amused.

I, however, failed to see the humor. "No. I don't sing and if I could, I wouldn't waste my time singing to dirty woodland creatures. I might get rabies."

He laughed, as if I had told some sort of joke. "So you aren't up to date on your shots?"

"Humans don't get rabies shots until after contracting the disease," I informed him, crossing my arms.

Lazily, he gave a shrug and stretched out on his bed. "Is that so…Hey, didn't your dad say 6:30 for dinner?" he asked, staring at the grandfather clock in the corner.

I turned to look as well, astonished to see that it was already 6:28. "We can be late. It'll do that man some good to be disobeyed for once," I told Mathias, though inside I was nervous.

Disobeying my father had never ended well before.

Recalling all the other times I'd defied his authority, I decided it was better to not anger him further. Hurriedly, I pulled on my slippers and ran a brush through my hair, glancing back to find Mathias standing by the door, holding it open for me in a gentlemanly fashion. Scoffing in embarrassment, I stalked past him and down the hall, not bothering to look to see if he'd followed. Of course he had.

By the time we actually entered the dining hall, I was five minutes late. Unsurprisingly, my father threw a fit, but for once, it didn't involve physical violence. Possibly because he was trying to act calm and collected in front of our new guards. If he ruined his image of the graceful king, he would have no choice but to end his life, as he'd told me once when I was a young child.

"And then you'd be the king," he'd informed me, petting my hair.

I scowled in his direction now, remembering how cheerfully he'd said such a thing to me. Erick, seeing the seething hatred in my eyes, elbowed me gently and shook his head. He'd never understood my disgust toward Father…clearly he wasn't about to start now. But he'd never been struck by a single person in his life. He didn't know the feeling of a belt ripping across the bare skin of his butt and the shame of having such a humiliating thing done in front of the whole lot of our servants. He didn't realize how painful Father's hand across my face was.

"So, why is that when I set a time for our meal, Erick always shows up perfectly on time, and you do not, Lukas?" father growled, cutting his steak with delicacy. "Are you set upon shaming this family? Perhaps I should make Erick my successor instead?"

I wanted to tell him how much I didn't care, that he could give Erick the kingdom, the monarchy, the title, everything and I wouldn't suffer. In fact, I would be happy for once in my life without this responsibility chaining me to the massive walls of this prison. But I couldn't let him know, couldn't let him sense this weakness. I couldn't let him know that I planned on ditching my title after he passed away.

"No, Father. I apologize for my disobedience."

His eyes hardened as he glared across the table at me, reading my eyes like a novel; it was obvious my true feelings weren't hidden deep enough by the way his wizened face wrinkled up even more in fury. "Yes…Lukas, you are to come visit me after we're through with supper." Noting the way Mathias tensed up, he added, "Alone. Without your bodyguard."

This proved to be too much for the hyperactive idiot. "But, Your Majesty," Mathias said, his voice taking on a persuasive salesman pitch, "I must protect him. It was your orders, My King, that I not leave his side."

"Silence!" Father ordered. "Do not speak directly to me unless addressed. You will remain in Lukas's room until he returns."

Mathias, sighing, gave my father another bow. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Watching him forced to the ground by authority, I couldn't help but grit my teeth, my blood boiling again. Who was he to order MY bodyguard around? As a prince, I was sure I had authority over Matthias as well. So when he got back up from the floor and sat down next to me, I leaned over and, making sure my father wasn't watching, whispered into his ear, "Stand outside the door."

He gave a subtle nod, a promise that he wouldn't completely abandon me to my father's will.

After our dinner ended, I was summoned to my father's quarters, a wing on the other side of the castle where he lived alone since the death of my mother. Standing outside the door, I could hear that he was already conferring with another, so I took a seat on a bench, fiddling my fingers nervously. Would Mathias show, or would he leave me to face the wrath of my father alone? I peered into the dark shadows, trying to decipher his shape, but found nothing but blackness staring back at me. With a nervous shiver, I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the wall.

"And this will do the trick?"

I jumped, astonished that I could hear my father talking so clearly through the wall.

"Majesty, I would not give you anything less than the best," a sinister voice sneered.

"How long will it take to come into effect? A few days?"

Intrigued, I listened closer.

The voice chuckled, sending goosebumps across my arms. "Oh, much less than that. In fact, I have no doubt that he will be writhing in pain within hours."

My father gave a demented, twisted laugh, his malevolence sending my heart flying in panic. "Perfect," he said. "This should teach him a lesson."

"Undoubtedly," the other man agreed.

The door creaked open and, suddenly terrified for my life, I hid in the shadows, clenching my hands into fists.


	2. Frost

**Happy reading :)**

My heart was throbbing in my chest as the man emerged from behind the door, his face masked by what looked to be a scarf of some sort. I couldn't seem to get a good view of him; even as he shook my father's hand and slouched creepily down the hall, it was almost as if he was made of shadow…he was completely obscured within seconds.

I let out my breath, wiping my forehead. Who had that man been? And why had he been speaking with Father about poisoning me? Or had I just assumed incorrectly?

Shaken, I considered turning around and ignoring my father's summons, but just as I was about to leave, my father exited the room, peering over at me with furious, narrowed eyes.

"How long have you been hiding there, child?"

I jumped, my heart flying even faster, but managed to keep my voice cool and calm as I answered, "Not very long, Father," and gave him his required bow. "I arrived seconds before you walked out."

He was evidently suspicious, but let it slide and motioned me into his chamber with a finger. I followed his silent order, with one last hopeful glance down the hall for Mathias before taking a seat across from Father's desk, crossing my legs in my gentlemanly fashion. Attempting to buy time to not have to look into his eyes, I adjusted my hat, slowly pulling it over my forehead. However, such a motion only lasted a short time…soon I was staring into the desolate pools of blue.

My father glared furiously across the desk at me, a vein emerging on his forehead as he studied my defiant posture. "Do you find your role in life a game? Do you truly believe that our monarchy could possibly die with me, Lukas? I never realized how naïve you were, and for that I can only blame myself. However, I will NOT be disgraced by your poor judgment. I will make sure that the reign of our family will continue, whether I have to remove you from the position of Prince or force you to comply with my rules! Do you hear me, boy?"

I gave a small nod, looking away from him and out the massive window that made up much of the east wall of the room. I could see the bare trees swaying gently, straining under the weight of the snow and being buffered by the forceful wind…the clouds were relentless. From here, I could even see my pond.

Distracted, I didn't realize my father had continued speaking until his hand was ripping across my face.

I held my burning cheek tenderly, shocked that I'd been able to ignore him for so long.

"PAY ATTENTION!" he yelled, his face turning a hideous shade of red as he looked down on me. "You useless little-"

Suddenly, he grew silent, his mouth nearly disappearing in his facial hair as he calmed himself. Sucking in a deep breath, he went back to his seat and took a shaky sip of tea, looking up at the ceiling of the room strangely and latching his hands together. "I did not call you here just to scold you for your insolent behavior…in fact, this meeting was planned quite a while before your misconduct. Lukas, your sixteenth birthday was today, correct?"

Crossing my arms, I mumbled, "Yes, Father."

He grunted. "Well then, it must be about that time then…Son, we need to have a talk."

I peered over at him in disgust and confusion. A… talk now that I was sixteen? "Father, I apologize for dinner…it won't happen again. May I be excused now?"

"No, Lukas." He shifted awkwardly, uncomfortable. "I'm quite aware your mistake will not be repeated, but this is no longer about that. Now that you're sixteen, some things are going to start changing…"

I blinked in shock, wondering if he was truly attempting to give me some form of sex talk. "Father, I already hit puberty a few years ago," I told him, feeling my face heat up.

His brow furrowed and he scowled, clearly confused by my thoughts. "No…I was speaking of changes within our home and the monarchy. You see, as a prince, you are finally eligible for an arranged marriage. I have spoken to your mother, and she agrees quite vehemently that it is time to find you a suitable woman. Although I do believe your attitude requires adjustment before then."

Embarrassed that I had misunderstood, my cheeks flamed even further. "F-Father... Mother is dead," I told him, trying to keep my voice even. "How could she possibly agree to such a thing?"

"Unlike you, my child, I'm aware of the presence of angels!" my father spat, his fury ignited. "I prayed to your mother and she spoke with me in a dream!"

I hesitated, unsure what to say. It was entirely possible that the spirit of my mother had come to visit my father in the night; I was often visited by spirits that took on many different forms, mostly trolls. But she had known me much better than my father did. I had never felt any hesitance toward her, so I had ended up telling her nearly everything…and that included when I'd told her about my five-year-old crush on our American chef, Nathan.

Why would she tell my father I should be married after being made aware I had…abnormal thoughts? She'd known how much I despised the thought of being king.

"Yes, Father…" I finally mumbled.

"We will begin introducing you to some princesses of my choice immediately. In the meantime…keep up with your studies. Now you may leave. Jorgen? Please escort your prince back to his chamber," he said, ordering one of his many guards. "And be sure he gets a nice warm cup of tea."

Had I imagined the malicious tone to his voice?

"Yes, sir," Jorgen replied, emotionless and unreadable as ever.

As we left the room, I felt the same pang of terror I had encountered earlier rush through me. I pictured the sinister man with the scarf covering his face, just a shadow as he slipped through the castle…I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary on my father's desk. But of course he wouldn't leave it out for wandering eyes to see. Following behind Jorgen, I was suddenly incredibly vulnerable. Though such a strong man would easily protect me from any assassin that managed to come along…who would he side with if my own father decided to end my life? Clearly not a bratty teenager.

Just as I was getting ready to excuse myself from Jorgen to use the restroom, a familiar face popped out from behind a random planter by the door to the kitchen. "Luk… I mean, Prince Lukas! Where have you been?!" Mathias gasped, looking dangerously close to wanting to hug me. "I've been standing by this door waiting for you!"

I stared at his idiotic expression. "That isn't the door to my father's study," I informed him.

He blinked once, staring from me to the kitchen and back again. "You…were having the talk in your father's study?! I thought he said the kitchen! I've been standing here for an hour wondering why I couldn't hear you!" He pursed his lips. "Well…I guess that explains it!"

Jorgen crossed his buff arms, looking down at the much shorter Mathias with an aggravated expression and saying something threatening in Danish that made him cringe and laugh at the same time. Then, making sure I was still there, he continued walking until we made it to my room. Wordlessly, he gave the room a once-around check and gave Mathias a forceful arm punch before heading out to get my tea.

"Ow!" Mathias complained, holding his arm.

"You're an idiot," I told him, staring reluctantly over at my unfinished homework. "How could you hide outside the wrong door?"

He sat down on his bed, pulling at the black gloves he wore. "I get punched for screwing up a fake plant and then I end up being by the wrong door…" His eyes fell on my throbbing face, turning gentle. "I'm really sorry, Prince Lukas. Please accept my condolences. I did try…but I failed to please you again. The king will have my head for sure," he grumbled glumly.

"I'm not going to tell my father that you attempted to hide outside his door to protect me," I snorted. "He'd have you killed twice."

The smile flickered back onto Mathias's face. "Your father should've had the meeting in the kitchen, though! They were cooking up something that smelled amazing!"

"That's right, and it's called murder stew," I told him seriously, pulling off my hat and tossing it aside.

"Um…what?"

I turned to him, wondering vaguely why such a failure of a bodyguard was the only person standing between my father's thirst for my blood. "I overheard my father speaking to some strange man. I believe he was selling my father a poison meant to kill me…or 'teach me a lesson' at the very least."

The smile disappeared from Mathias's face as he processed my findings. "The king is planning to harm you? If that's so, then why bother hiring a bodyguard for you at all?"

"Because," I said grimly, "My father is the last person you'd expect to have to protect me from. He isn't a fool, unlike you. He's quite aware that nobody will be expecting him to attack me, and if someone finds out, he'll likely blame the so called "assassins" for whatever happens to me."

I looked away from him, resisting the urge to hug myself out of fear. Clearly, though he was fairly stupid when it came to anything even remotely requiring intelligence, he was good with understanding emotions.

"I'll protect you," Mathias promised, his eyes burning with intensity. "From your dad, from the assassins, from everything. You don't need to be scared."

For awhile, I let tried to allow myself some comfort from his words, tried to believe that there was even a minute possibility that they could be true, but there was no escaping the fear. Finally, frustrated and confused, I simply said, "I'm taking a bath," grabbed some nightclothes and left him standing there.

The warmth of the water released the tension and fear from my body, the steam clearing my mind as I pondered the situation. Clearly, my father expected me to drink my tea tonight…so he had demanded that Jorgen put some poison in it beforehand? It seemed such a simple and ridiculous solution, but maybe he knew the simplicity would confuse me. Should I have Mathias drink the tea for me to test it out?

A whole lot of good that would do; kill my bodyguard and then be poisoned anyway.

Finally, as I drained the tub and pulled on my pajamas, I decided to just leave the tea be. I would dump it down the sink and be done with it forever, the poison would be gone, and I could go back to living my life as usual. Satisfied, I left the bathroom feeling much better, only to find that while I was gone, Mathias had been busy making friends.

Lounging on my bed were Erick and our two cousins, Tino and Berwald.

Tino seemed to be enjoying himself as usual, his happy-go-lucky smile in its place as he spoke in Finnish while Mathias tried to guess what he was saying. Berwald and Erick, however, were not quite as impressed with him. Though Berwald was almost always silent, his facial expressions were more than enough to give away his true emotions. In just one look, I could read that he was annoyed that Mathias so easily entertained Tino when he himself just scared the smaller boy away. And Erick…was just being Erick.

Upon seeing me, Tino sat up and waved, saying, "Hello, Lukas! My mom decided to pay Uncle a visit today! Happy Birthday!"

I sighed, wishing suddenly that I was back in the bath, relaxing and forgetting the world for awhile. Without a word, I grabbed my hat and a jacket, yanked them on, and left the room, headed for someplace less noisy. Yet within seconds, I could hear footsteps and stifled giggles trailing behind me...annoyed, I tried to block it out and ended up plowing face first into Jorgen. Thanks to his large demeanor, he was uninjured, but so was the cup of tea placed precariously on a thin silver tray in his hand.

"Where are you going?" he asked, looking at the group behind me with narrowed eyes. "It is time for bed."

"My cousins came to visit," I told him, unable to hide my aggravation. "My father failed to warn me."

"Prince Lukas!" I heard Mathias come up behind me and shuddered as he absently rest his hand on my shoulder. "Where are you going? Are you angry about your cousins being in your room…? I just thought…well, since it's your birthday that you'd like to hang out with them…so I let them come in and surprise you! Your Finnish cousin even brought you cake and a gift! Oh, don't worry; I already checked to make sure it wasn't a bomb and re-wrapped it for you!"

I took the present he was thrusting at me and stared at it in surprise, before looking over at a gently smiling Tino. He'd never given me a present before…and he came over nearly every year on my birthday.

"It's from me and Berwald," he informed me. "I hope you like it! I was so glad you finally turned sixteen that I ignored my mom and made you something!"

"I m'de the c'ke," Berwald mumbled.

Unsure how to respond, I tore gently into the shiny paper covering the gift, astounded by what I pulled out. "You made this?" I asked, turning it around in my hands.

Tino nodded, putting his hands behind his back. "You've always liked music, so I decided to make you a music box! Berwald put together the mechanical parts and I carved the wood."

Curious, I opened it and watched in fascination as the little dancer in the middle started twirling to the tinkling music of an Old Norwegian lullaby my mother used to sing to me at night. It seemed a little strange for a sixteenth birthday present…especially to a boy…but it was undeniably a beautiful piece of art. I ran my hands across a carving on the front, investigating it closer…In shock, I looked up at Tino. "Is this…?"

"Yup! I carved your pond into it! It took a really, really long time, but I wanted to make it perfect! Now you can escape to your favorite spot even when your father bans you from leaving the house."

It felt awkward to say, but I thanked him anyway, wanting to stare at the perfect recreation of my haven again. Instead, I just let him kiss my cheek like he'd always tried to and said goodnight to him and Berwald when Tino announced it was time for them to get some rest. With one more 'happy birthday', they left to go to their own rooms.

I turned back to the others only to find Erick and Jorgen had already vanished, leaving nothing but a confused Danish teenager holding a silver tray atop his clumsy fingers. "See? Wasn't it nice having people over for your birthday? It wasn't the ball I'd been planning, but it was still pretty sweet, right? Only now I wish I'd gotten you something."

"That would be inappropriate for a subordinate to do," I informed him, glaring at the tea. "They're my cousins. Now throw that away and come back to the room."

He was obviously confused by my sudden order, but he didn't hesitate in dumping the drink, or in following me back into my bedroom. When we were back, he turned out the lamp on my desk and pulled back my covers for me, saying, "I know you aren't done with your work, but it's your birthday, so why don't you go to sleep early? Not to mention I kind of sprung your cousins on you without warning…but Tino was cool! I was glad I got to meet them. And that music box is really awesome!"

Sighing, I crawled into the bed and yanked the covers up, turning away so I didn't have to look at Mathias's smug face. Trying to forget he was there at all, I pulled the music box off the nightstand where I had set it and opened it, listening to the sweet, melodic tinkle and imagining the soft voice of my mother singing perfectly along. It seemed so real…Closing my eyes, I could see her perfectly, her long grayish-blonde hair braided with her crown on top, her face gentle as she stared down at me in my crib…It wasn't hard to picture the angel that my father was sure she had become.

I hadn't realized how much I missed her.

Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, I felt the music box being softly pulled from my grasp. Subconsciously, I knew it was Mathias, but when the music started tinkling yet again and a voice joined in, hitting every note meticulously, I was sure that it was just a dream.

I woke up groggy the next morning to the sounds of Mathias snoring obnoxiously in the bed beside me. Wiping my eyes, I stretched and yawned, turning to see that his jaw was slack, and that he'd created a disgusting pile of drool on his pillow throughout the night. Disturbed, I picked up a slipper and threw it at his unsuspecting face, laughing on the inside when it slammed into his nose.

I continued getting ready, pulling on a new pair of clothes while Mathias panicked and slashed around. By the time he'd figured out what had happened, I was gently brushing my hair, pulling it back with my usual clip and placing my hat on my head.

"What kind of bodyguard sleeps through the night? Aren't you aware that danger is a constant burden?" I asked, not really as upset as I sounded.

He yawned, rubbing at his face wearily. "I wasn't sleeping all night…I got up every few hours to make sure you were okay, Prince Lukas. That and you were so cute when you slept, I just had to see your face!"

I looked over at him, astonished and…somewhat relieved. I could trust this boy with my life. Ignoring the cute face comment, I stood up and stalked over to him. "Just don't get me killed," I ordered, giving his arm a small brush before walking out the door.

Fearlessly I felt his hand wrap around my own, but before I could protest, he'd pulled me back into the room with a, "Wait, you forgot to take your vitamin!" as his excuse.

Yanking away from him, I took the pills and water from a silver tray and swallowed them both quickly.


	3. Flicker

**I do not own the song "My Heart is Yours", it was written by Didrik Solli-Tangen, and i encourage you to look it up :D Happy reading~**

It was almost instantaneous; the moment I swallowed my vitamins, I knew I'd just sentenced myself to the will of my father. Quivering, I dropped the rest of the water onto the ground, a hand over my mouth. My heart lurched in horror as I threw a hand over my mouth and looked at Mathias. Already I could feel my throat constricting, chills sending beads of sweat rolling down my back…

"Lukas…?" Mathias asked wonderingly, his face white as the snow that covered the ground outside. "A-are you okay? What's up?"

Taking a deep breath, I ignored Mathias's question and hurried to the bathroom. I'd never made myself vomit before…it had always seemed such an unnecessary and disgusting thing. But now…Trying not to think about it, I stuck a finger down my throat, hoping to activate my gag reflex and be rid of the poison. Yet even as I did, I only gagged; I couldn't make myself throw up.

"Lukas!" My now frantic bodyguard's voice echoed through the bathroom, his obnoxiously loud tones reaching me easily. "Lukas, what're you doing?"

I had no idea what to say to him. Standing quickly, I washed my face quickly of the sheen of sweat that had formed there before heading back into my room, where Mathias stood holding the broken pieces of the glass in his gloved palm. Annoyed by the worry on his face, I grabbed a coat from the wall and threw it on, shoving him out of the way and heading to the dining hall.

What was I going to do now? I had let my father win this one…I narrowed my eyes furiously at the thought. Of course he wouldn't put the poison in my nightly tea. I had known his intelligence was high, yet I had chosen to let down my guard. I could already feel my throat constricting under the toxins running ramped through my bloodstream. In fact, I was incredibly lightheaded…and it was getting more and more difficult to catch a breath.

Suddenly, I felt like nothing like the prince of an incredible kingdom. I was a frightened child, terrified to be suffering alone.

"Mathias…" I whispered, turning around expectantly.

He wasn't there.

My eyes widened in shock as I looked around suspiciously. Hadn't I just heard his footsteps trudging behind me as always? Was he hiding from me? Annoyed, I opened the few doors closest to me, even checking behind all the fake potted plants in the hallway. Finding everything empty, I took a nervous step back to my room. Could I have possibly injured him on the glass when I'd shoved him? There had still been a lot on the floor…Biting my lip, I hurried back and threw the door open, more than ready to find an excuse to scold him if he hadn't followed me.

Instead, I found that someone had tidied my room. There wasn't a sign of the broken glass that had strewn my floor mere moments ago. Even the rest of the water had dried.

"Mathias!" I demanded. "Come here! I will NOT play games with you!"

Silence filled the room. Emptiness seemed to exude from every corner…it was easily apparent that wherever Mathias had disappeared to, he was no longer in here. Putting my hands on my hips, I glared around the room coolly, taking in all the unexpected changes and trying to understand.

The glass. The water. The strange cleanliness…my bed was made, everything put in its place…And then I noticed.

The music box had disappeared.

Since I'd come to know him, Mathias had been many things; an idiot, a nuisance, unnecessarily hyperactive. But not once had I suspected such a man to be a thief. I had been so sure I could trust him with my life that I'd even begun to relax around him…how many more mistakes was I going to make? Glaring dismally at the empty nightstand, I almost didn't hear the gentle music tinkling, the soft sound nearly inaudible as it travelled down the hallway.

Without thinking, I quickly spun around and ran into the hall, following the mesmerizing sound as it played. It was hard to decide where to go; the music seemed to be coming from everywhere…

Making my way into the dining hall, I was sure that I would be able to find Erick…or at least my father. However…this room was empty as well. Not a solitary sound came from the kitchen, which was usually bustling at this time. In disbelief, I went through the whole palace, checking every single chamber for any sign of life…nothing. There was nothing left but the sound of my mother's song whispering in my ears.

"Mathias…"I murmured one last time, before heading outside.

Since I'd been a young child, the pond had always been an escape from my father's demands, my mother's illness, my brother's submissive behavior. Now was no different; I escaped from the unnerving solitude and slid into the morning light. The clouds had finally dispersed, leaving the sun shining brightly on the glimmering carpet of snow that clothed the ground…and as it shown off my pond, I could see the full spectrum of light on its surface.

I made my way through the heavy, dense snow and sat down by the edge, pulling my cloak closer around me and peering into my own reflection.

What I saw had me on my feet in an instant; had…that really been me? But when had I grown wings?

I looked behind me, tried to flex my back muscles. There was nothing to see. Clearly, I was simply exhausted from staying up too late…Reassured, I went back to the edge of the pond, peering in one more time just to be sure. When my normal self was all that was reflected back, I sighed in relief, sucking in the cold morning air.

"Were you really that frightened by what you saw? I thought it was a nice touch."

Erick. More than relieved, I felt all the stress and concern melt away as I turned to my little brother. Except…he didn't seem quite as "little" now. He was clearly an adult, his once wiry frame now filled in, his gray hair falling slightly longer than it had…even his face seemed more knowing. He wore the kind of suit I had always heard him complain about to our father; it was elegant and over the top, the sort of suit men wore to perform violin pieces. In fact…in one hand, he held a beautiful mahogany violin, his horse-hair bow clutched in the other. A top his head sat a wide-brimmed black hat, complete with a velvet red ribbon.

But perhaps the most astonishing thing was his eyes; once upon a time, they had been a bright and clear blue. Now they were golden, the eyes of a wild animal.

"What?" he asked in his typical bored fashion. "You didn't like how you looked?"

Too stunned to speak, I found myself mesmerized by this unfamiliar man.

"I designed it myself. I figured you'd like to be an angel…actually, you looked quite a bit like mother."

My heart contracted and I woke up from my daze. "Erick…where's Father?" I found myself asking.

He seemed as shocked by the question as me. "Father? Not too far from here…perhaps right where you least expect him to be. He's shockingly feral. However, he often comes and visits my home. If you want to see him, it's best if you stay with me beneath the falls. While we're waiting, I will teach you to play the violin."

He offered me a white-gloved hand, staring at me expectantly with inhuman eyes.

"Erick, if you can't bring me to Father, take me to where Mathias is," I ordered him.

He raised an eyebrow, unconcerned. "I told you I'm going to take you to _Far_. But you must come with me to my kingdom and learn the violin before he will even consider showing up. You see, _Far _is quite picky about his music. There's only one song he likes to hear; My Heart is Yours. A piece you know well…and if he heard you play such a thing, I'm sure he would show up and speak with you."

I started, shocked by the name of mother's lullaby. Shaking off the feeling of remorse that flowed through me, I looked away from my brother's animalistic eyes. "Please…take me to Mathias."

He scowled and put his arm back down, facing the palace. "If it's the demon you want, he's in your castle. But you really should play the vio-"

Blocking out my brother's babble, I started toward the castle again. Suddenly, a thought struck me. "Erick? What do you mean by "the demon"? And if Mathias is a demon…what are you?"

His golden eyes flashed, but he gave me a lazy shrug. "Exactly what I said. He's a demon who guards the castle. In a way, he seems ghost-like the way he haunts the halls…yet he only does it for one purpose; that's to protect you. He's been waiting a long time for you to come home to your true dimension, King Lukas. And me? I'm a _fossegrimen_. Duh. Now go run to your man."

Well, it did explain the violin.

Too confused by everything he said to be angry, I trudged up to the castle I had just left. Except that now, everything seemed so…different. When I entered through the doors, it no longer seemed so desolate and empty. The whole hall was lit up and decorated as though I had been left in charge….it was much more sensible than my father's décor. No fake plants. And the amount of doors and passageways had decreased significantly. While the outside of the castle had seemed just as grand as it usually was, the inside was almost like a normal home…with the exception of the large bedrooms.

It wasn't difficult to navigate my way through such a place; it was as if this new place was a world that had been pulled right out of my own mind.

Even finding Mathias was easy; his fiery spirit had always reminded me of licking flames, so when I found him curled up by the fireplace, it came as no surprise. What did shock me was the strange bat wings and devil tail protruding from his body.

"Mathias…?" I wondered, walking over to the sleeping man.

His ears twitched at the sound of my voice and he sprang up, his familiar blue eyes gazing at my face with a broad, pointy smile. "King Lukas!" he exclaimed, looking so much like an excited puppy, I pushed back a smile. He gave me a quick, fidgety bow, reaching out to kiss my hand.

Just this once, I decided to let him do it.

While he was showing his submissiveness, I studied him as I had Erick. Mathias's costume was much different than my brother's had been; rather than a suit, he wore a dark cloak with red lining on the inside, wore knee-high leather boots, and carried in his hand a rather terrifying bloody axe. Whoever decided to give an idiot such a dangerous weapon was beyond me.

"Where are we?" I asked, yanking my hand away from his kissing. "Erick said this was "my dimension" but I don't recognize a bit of it."

He cocked his head to the side, hauling his axe over to rest on his broad shoulder. "You don't recognize your own dimension?" His brows furrowed with concern. "Are you feeling okay? Did you hit your head? Do you need to lie down?"

I grimaced at him. As usual, Mathias had no idea when to silence himself. "I'm fine. Just answer the question. And that's an order."

Pouting, he sat back down and patted the seat beside him. For some odd reason, though this Mathias was equally as stupid as the other, I felt closer to him, so I felt nothing uncomfortable when I sat next to him by the fire. To my disbelief, I was even finding it difficult to resist laying my head on his shoulder as he began the story.

"Yes, King Lukas. Erick called this "your dimension" because it's your creation. After your father, the former king, relinquished his power to you, you met a man from England named Arthur Kirkland. This man practiced all sorts of black magic and spells that intrigued you into becoming friends with him…that, and he could see the things that most other could not. After he taught you the more basic magic, you wanted more. You wanted to know if there was a way to possibly create your own world, so that you may escape the world your father had imposed upon you. You wanted to create your own utopia. So Arthur taught you all he knew about dimensions, warning you about the dangers of messing with the natural order of things.

"So you thought up a place that you'd like to live, your dream home. You put only things you desired here; nothing more or less. So I'm pretty glad that I made the cut! Oh, you're cousins are here, too, but they're out right now…they're getting some groceries. I was kinda surprised to see your dad here…but when I saw what he'd become…" He paused, chuckling. "I understood why. Now he's under the care of Prince Erick and you never have to see him again! You're the ruler now! The ruler of the kingdom of Norway!"

He put a hand on my chin, gently coaxing me to look up, his eyes alight with ecstasy. "And we never have to go back to those times again! Now we can live in your perfect world…and be happy forever."

I tried to pull away from his grasp, but it was half-hearted; there was something about the warmth of his black-gloved hand on my face that I enjoyed. His whole being exuded fire and comfort…it was as if I were ice, melting under his heat. Intrigued by this new feeling, I found myself leaning into his embrace, pushing myself into his strong body…I wanted to kiss him. No, I wanted HIM to kiss ME.

He grinned a fanged grin, looking into my eyes like he knew my desire. But he just shook his head and took my hands. "I don't want my King to die such a young death."

Huh? What did he mean by that?

Just as I was about to ask, the door flew open. In annoyance, I looked over my shoulder to find Tino and Berwald entering the mansion. At first glance, they seemed relatively normal, unlike the others I had come across today. It was strange to come across two unhindered human beings…but this was my utopia. Then why had I created Mathias the Chaste Demon?

"Lukas!" Tino exclaimed, throwing his arms around me.

As usual, Berwald just grunted, before looking at Mathias like he'd done something despicable.

"Welcome home!" the Finnish boy continued to gush. "We thought you would be coming today, so we brought you all your favorite sweets! And Berwald prepared your room for you! It should all be up to King Lukas's taste!"

Unsure what to say, I just reached to fiddle with my hat, only to find that it had disappeared. Surprised, I turned to the body-length mirror and stared at myself in awe. As the reflection I had seen before promised, I was no longer the quiet, annoyed sixteen year old I had been just hours ago. Staring back at me was the face of a man…yet he was beautiful, angelic. His clothes were white and pure as fresh snow, as were the wings that hung carelessly on his back. He had my eyes, but there was a radiant glow to them I was sure I had never had as a mere human being.

"You're just like ice…a frozen, timeless beauty!" Mathias told me, before darting a look of hatred back at Berwald.

"And you're still an idiot," I told him, embarrassed by his compliments. "Even as a demon."

"S'me th'ngs don't ch'nge," Berwald grumbled, grabbing Tino by the sleeve and hauling him out of the room.

"So what are they supposed to be?" I asked as they left, probably to go make dinner.

Mathias stared into the fire, distracted. "Oh, them? They're shapeshifters. They can change into basically whatever they wanna be. But they're so boring! They stay human almost all the time. Only when they get real pissed do they actually use their powers." He grinned maniacally. "When I mess with Berwald, sometimes he changes into a big wolf and tries to kill me."

"And Tino?"

Mathias paled slightly. "Uh…I don't mess with Tino. For such a small guy, he's got some pretty scary stuff up his sleeve."

I was getting irritated with the vagueness. "Like what?"

"Oh…y'know…I'd rather not…" He peered down at my face. "Okay, okay! I got my butt handed to me once because I accidentally cut Berwald, just a little. And he came home bleeding everywhere. And because those two have this creepy cousin love thing, Tino went crazy and turned into…well, did I ever mention I'm terrified of horses? Anyway, he turned into some unicorn thing and tore me up pretty bad."

I stared at him. "You got torn up…by a Tino-unicorn?"

His face flushed a little and he looked away, flapping his wings nervously. "H-hey! Tino's just stronger than he looks! I…he just took me offguard! Next time, I'll totally not get beat up!"

"And you call yourself a bodyguard? You're the worst excuse for a protector I've ever met," I told him.

He pursed his lips, looking down. "Your dad hired me to protect you from assassins, not your unicorn cousins…"

I was shocked that he could remember something from the normal world like that. "What else do you remember from the real world, Mathias? The one before this so-called utopian society I created with black magic? Do you remember how to get back home?"

He stared at me peculiarly for a moment, his face strangely blank. "Get back home? How could I ever get back home? Why would I ever want to leave Norway? THIS is my home, King Lukas. I was created just to be with you."


	4. Icicles

**I was able to write another chapter, yay! ;) Hope you enjoy it and Happy Halloween! Oh, and I don't actually know Australia's human name, so it's Lachlan for now!**

I was sure Mathias's voice had changed, taken on a strange robotic tone, yet when I furrowed my brow in confusion, he just gave me his usual smile and a half-shrug.

Questions burned in my throat: what had he meant by saying such a thing? Did he believe this was the only world where he existed? Did this world even truly exist? How had I come to be here? But before I could put together a coherent thought, Tino had burst back into the room and dragged me into the dining room, excited beyond my understanding.

The table had been set and laid out carefully, in a similar fashion to the mansion on a smaller scale. On top of that, there were several dishes of my favorites kinds of food scattered around, and others I had never seen before my visit here. Taking my napkin, I sat down and placed it in my lap, serving myself while the others followed suit, every eye trained on me like I were some form of god. Taking a slice of meat from a tray, I cut into and flinched as the blood ran red across my plate.

"Alright!" Mathias announced, pulling the tray away from me and loading his plate with the uncooked mystery meat. "Thanks, Tino!"

Tino gave him a sweet smile and looked over at me, explaining. "The demons eat extremely rare meat, so I made him a separate platter of bloody food. This one is ours!"

Gently, he handed me the untainted food. Wordlessly, I took a few slices, and, finding it delicious, decided they weren't trying to poison me after all. With all the dignity I could muster, I brought my fork slowly to my mouth the way Father had always demanded, trying to ignore the fact that Mathias had ignored the silver set out for him and shoved his face in his dinner like some form of animal.

At least human Mathias had had some decency.

We sat in an almost awkward silence as we all ate, the only sounds in the room Mathias's disgusting eating and the clinking of the silver onto plates and the table. Chewing lightly, my mind drifted to my brother under the waterfall. What did he eat for dinner? Why was he not invited inside the house to join us? Just as I was about to ask, there was a light knock at the door.

Tino hurriedly excused himself to go get it, but for some reason Berwald followed close behind, leaving me alone with Mathias again. With nothing else to do, I found myself staring at the blood dripping down his chin onto the table, watching in disturbed fascination as it formed puddles. Seeing me, he gave a red-toothed grin and finished his last piece of meat, taking the handkerchief from his lap and wiping his face of any and all mess. Was he…trying to be polite for me?

"If you were really a gentleman, you wouldn't have shoved your face into your dish in the first place," I chastised. "That was horrendously disgusting."

His tail wagged gently back and forth as he considered me, still grinning that aggravating grin. "You have some weird kinks, y'know that? Since this is your utopia and all. I bet it turned you on and you're too stiff to admit it!"

"Well that's something to walk in and hear."

Annoyed, I turned to see my brother leaning in the doorway, looking much the same as he had just hours ago. His eyes were alight with that same perpetual boredom with the universe, even as they made their way over to Mathias, his violin still in hand.

He took the seat beside me, grabbing Berwald's untouched plate and starting to eat it. "Lukas, I've been waiting for you to return to the waterfall to meet Father again. Because you wouldn't let me teach you," he grumbled, "I decided to play the song for you. He flew right in and I trapped him in a cage so that you may come back with me and see him."

"He…flew in? And you mean that in a literal sense?" I asked, recalling that Mathias had laughed earlier about what my father had become in my imagination. "He's a bird?"

Erick pursed his lips, looking down at his food happily. "Well of course he is. Tino, you're cooking is as good as ever."

Tino, who I had failed to notice re-entered the room, thanked him and began clearing the table, humming.

"Really, he makes the best gnome stew in all of the kingdoms," Erick informed me, taking another bite of soup.

I stared into my own bowl, eyeing the meat chunks in horror. "Gnome stew…why is it called gnome stew?"

Erick gave me a peculiar look. "Because it is made from the gnomes that Berwald catches in the forest every day. Obviously. And the meat is werewolf. You seem to have forgotten everything since you were last here, Lukas...you're dumb."

Seeing the look of shock on my face, Tino quickly took my bowl from me and blushed. "We can't afford the meat in the market, so Berwald hunts for us! He always comes back with something delicious!"

"Why can't you afford the meat in the market if you're royalty?" I asked, feeling suddenly suspicious of everyone around me. "Aren't you rich?"

Three pairs of blank eyes watched me.

"You asked Arthur to personify your imagination. He did just that. We live with as little as we possibly can and we're perfectly happy about it," Mathias told me, and they all grinned in unison as if to tell me just how "happy" they were to be poor.

I shivered, nervously recalling how I'd always been sure I'd be perfectly happy living like a commoner. Clearly, that wasn't the case. In my selfish, naïve imaginings, I'd cast poverty down on my family and now they, the royalty of Norway, couldn't afford the meat sold at the markets.

The door creaked open and we all turned to see Berwald entering with a sack hanging over his shoulder. "N't m'ch out t'day…" he informed Tino, heading into the kitchen.

"Winter is always more difficult," my Finnish cousin murmured, before following Berwald.

Mathias snorted. "Of course he forgot to mention it's winter here ALL the time."

Erick nodded, slurping up the last of his stew. "Well, we have to keep the pond frozen. If the merpeople got out again, we'd have another World War on our hands."

Merpeople?

"Hey, that was your own fault! That's what you get for thinking one of the mermen is cute and thawing out the pond just to get him!"

Erick blushed faintly, but when he spoke, there was no hint of embarrassment. "It wasn't because the man was cute. It was because the other merchildren were bullying him and I didn't want him to get hurt."

"Sure," Mathias teased. "I think you chose him for his hot bod."

"I don't even know what you're talking about," Erick said through tight lips.

"What, afraid your big brother's gonna make fun of you when he finds out you have a boyfriend?"

Erick, clearly annoyed by this topic of conversation, dragged his long, cat-like nails across the strings of his violin, causing a high-pitched shriek to emit from the instrument. "He isn't my boyfriend, you indecent demon. Please refrain from such ghastly behavior in front of my brother."

Mathias laughed, his eyes burning with amusement. "I don't think your brother minds my…indecency."

"Anyway…" Erick said before I could speak, "Why don't you come with me to meet _Far _again, Lukas? I'm sure you're exhausted from babysitting this imbecile."

"Babysitting? Hey, that's demonsitting to you, _fosse_."

"Is _Far_ really a bird now?" I asked, wondering what in my mind had created that.

"A well-bred, high class Puffin," Erick answered. "Don't worry; he still speaks. He just has a somewhat different appearance. Come on then, hurry up. He still has the brain of an intelligent man, so keeping him in a cage doesn't last more than a few hours."

Erick left the room, obviously expecting me to follow. With one more look for Mathias, who was now sulking in the corner of the room by the fireplace, I went after my brother. The outside had thankfully remained unchanged throughout my time in the "palace"; everything was still shades of white and gray everywhere I looked. I somewhat began to wonder why my mind was such a dull, colorless place…I had been sure there were at least some things about me that weren't in grayscale. Yet the whole place seemed desolate, the only color around Erick's mahogany violin.

"Is this really a utopia?" I found myself asking my brother as we made our way to his kingdom behind the frozen solid waterfall that supplied my pond with water. "It seems rather lifeless."

"It's not made for others, Lukas. Norway was created for you and you alone." He looked around. "Why? Don't you like it? Does something not please you? I think it's rather beautiful, in a cold way. And since it's your mind that created it, I believe it makes perfect sense."

I narrowed my eyes. "Even in other dimensions, you insult me."

"I called you beautiful, didn't I? It was a compliment. But you are icy. Even Mathias admits to that… Ah, here we are," he announced as we squeezed behind the ice falls. "Home sweet home."

I followed suit and soon found myself in something that was nothing more than a cramped, decorated cavern. In one corner sat an occupied birdcage, and in the other was a strange, early white pool of water…everything else was simple furniture. I watched pensively as Erick went over to the birdcage and began speaking quietly, in low tones that I couldn't pick up, to the creature inside.

"Okay, Lukas. _Far _said he wants to speak with you," Erick muttered, plopping down on a chair and taking out his bow from a bag I hadn't seen that he was wearing. Quietly, he pulled the bow across the strings, emitting a pure, beautiful sound unlike the one from earlier.

Blocking out my brother's spontaneously musical abilities, I went over to the cage, peering in. "Father…?"

"He trapped me in here because of you?" the caged Puffin snarled, his voice exactly how I remembered it. "Erick, I told you I was searching for your mother! I saw her today, I know I did! She was here!"

Erick just continued to play, not looking over.

However, this was something I couldn't ignore so easily. "You saw Mother here?"

_Far, _his icy blue eyes still intact, glared at me and said, "Yes, I was sure I heard her singing. So I flew off to go find her, but Erick's violin threw me off course…I lost her. And as usual, it's your fault, Lukas."

"I didn't ask him to trap you here," I argued, before realizing how ridiculous it was to be yelling at a bird. "Is…Mother really here in Norway?"

"No." Erick's lifeless voice cut through the music-filled air, sharp and painful. "He believes she does, but I have yet to find a clue. There's no proof, and that's why I play her song. If she's here, she'll hear it and come to me. I've been playing for years."

My father shrieked and rattled the cage furiously. "You will not speak like that, Erick! She's just wandering around, waiting for someone to come to her! She has always been that way!"

Silently, I unhooked the lock of the cage and threw open the door, watching with relief as _Far _took to flight and soared through the waterfall's entrance, continuing on his perpetual quest to find the woman who had given his soul a purpose.

"Why'd you do that? Didn't you want to speak with him earlier?" Erick murmured, closing his eyes as he played. "Don't tell me you expect me to round him up again."

"I wanted to speak to him when I was afraid. Now that I'm more comfortable with my surroundings, I realize there's no way to speak to someone who is so determined to find their happiness that they would beat their child to get there. He's nothing more than a wild animal now, following his instincts. That's why I created him as a bird; he'd fly through any obstacle to find his meaning."

Erick's music ceased, my statement surprising to him. "You…recognize why you created him as a bird? Then tell me…why did you make me what I am? I've never even liked music. You know how terrible I was singing in choir."

"I don't know about you," I told him bluntly. "I remember how awful you were at singing. You're completely tone deaf, and yet I made you an exceptional violinist. Maybe I wanted to bring you some musical ability because your life seemed so dismal without it."

"You can't sing either," Erick grumbled. "Is your life dismal? Oh, right…it is."

My eye gave a small twitch, but I let it slide. "What's in the pool of water over there?"

Suddenly, he seemed slightly uncomfortable, refusing to meet my eyes and polishing his violin as an excuse. I recalled what Mathias had been teasing him about…the merchild that Erick had saved from being bullied. Erick had denied any relations with him, but…

"Is it your merboyfriend?" I asked, walking over and getting a closer look. "Why's the water white?"

"I already told you," Erick sighed, setting down his instrument for the first time since we'd met and coming over to me. "He isn't my boyfriend. The water is white because…it needs to be cleaned, I guess."

I looked over at him, mildly concerned by that statement, but before I could say anything, something leapt high into the air, splashing the strange white water all over me.

"G'day, mate!"

I grimaced in response, looking at my soaked clothes.

"Lachlan…" Erick shook his head. "I told you to be careful."

"Oh…is this your brother?" the mercreature asked in English, his Australian accent heavy enough to confuse me into not being able to understand him.

I turned to Erick. "What? You know I don't speak English very well."

"He asked if you were my brother…" he explained, before turning to Lachlan again and saying, "Yes, this is him…I told you not to splash anymore. It's only fun for you."

Lachlan looked down, ashamed. "Sorry, King Lukas."

I stared at the merman, taking in his crazy dirty blond hair, nicely tanned skin, and bare, muscular chest. Obviously foreign. Yet there was only one thing I couldn't stop staring at… "Why does he have a Band-Aid on his nose?"

Erick sighed, clearly wishing this wasn't happening right now. "I'm not sure. He's been living with me for a few months now, so his injuries have healed, but he won't let me take it off."

"How does it stay on there when he lives in the water?"

"It's waterproof, mate!" Lachlan shot me a giant grin. "I speak a bit of Norwegian…" he added when I looked at him funny. "By the way, I'm Lachlan, Your Majesty. Pleased to meet ya!" He extended a hand towards me, but I just stared until he set it back down.

Finally, I turned toward Erick and looked at him strangely before telling him, "You have strange taste."

"Look, my merkoala wants to say hi, too, mate!"

I blinked at the half-fish, half-koala creature. "Very, very strange taste."

Erick shrugged. "He refused to let me save him without the merkoala, so I took them both in."

Unsure what to say, I looked back at my soaked clothes and sighed. "Well, not that meeting your Aussie friend and his half-breed wasn't fascinating, but I believe I'd better go back to my own palace now so I can change. I'll…see you later, Erick."

Erick gave a small wave as I left.

Back at my own home, something seemed to have changed. Though it looked relatively the same as it had when I'd left, there was something about it…it was colder. And empty. There wasn't a single soul in the place but me. And the fire that had been burning in the fireplace was now nothing more than charred wood and dimming embers. I padded through the empty rooms, wondering if I was about to find myself suddenly back home. After all, hadn't I come here in the exact same way? Maybe being alone was the key.

"I ran the bath for you. I was wondering when you'd be coming back…I was so bored!"

Shocked, I spun around to find Mathias standing in the doorway. My heart eased in recognition…yet there was still something off…and this time I really looked at him. His eyes, which had been blue just hours ago, were blood red.

"Mathias…where are Tino and Berwald?"

"I was so lonely without you, Lukas…I don't like it when you leave me."

Unconsciously, I took a step back, worried. What was wrong with him? "Mathias. Tino and Berwald. Tell me where they are. That's an order."

A wild grin stretched across his face, his eyes widening as he came over to me and wrapped his arms roughly around my waist. "I like it when you order me around," he whispered into my ear.

I struggled against his vice grip, but I knew it wasn't going to work. "Mathias! Let go!" I demanded, attempting futilely to get my hands free.

"No. I'm not letting you leave me again," he said teasingly. "Besides…I think that it's time for you to take a bath! After all, you ARE soaking wet. You must be freezing. Don't worry; I'll keep you nice and warm," he purred, giving my neck a long, slow lick.

Shivering, I gave up my useless fighting, looking up at his fiery eyes. "You're right. Maybe I should," I told him, pretending to give into him. "But…you'll be coming with me, right? You won't leave me alone again?"

His grin widened. "Of course I'll stay with you. I'll never, ever leave my King's side again, if that's what he wants!" Clearly excited, his grip on me loosened.

Perfect.

Before he could recognize what I was about to do, I pressed against his chest, giving him false security. "Mathias…?" I muttered.

"Hmm?" he wondered, looking down at me.

As hard as I could, I shoved him away and brought my up to the bottom of his jaw, knocking him to the ground with as much force as I could muster. Then, just to add insult to his injuries, I crawled over his limp body and hacked a nice ball of spit into his unsuspecting face.


	5. Rouse

**Hello guys! Sorry for those of you who were confused by the last chapter, i hope this one clears some things up for you! If not, feel free to contact me with any questions you have ;) The story is finally starting to move along :D Thanks for reading, i really appreciate it! Please enjoy~**

What…what in the world was going on here?

I peered down at Mathias's unconscious figure on the ground, his face forming a light bruise where I had kicked him. Taking a deep breath, I squatted down beside him and gently opened one of his eyes with my fingers. Relived to find that the iris had changed back to its usual blue, I stood again, remembering with a shiver the lusty, burning red they had just been. What had suddenly compelled him to try such a thing? Earlier, he had refused to kiss me, much less…

I shook the thoughts away. At least I knew I was stronger than him. I could take care of myself.

But where had Tino and Berwald gone?

"Ah, what a sight," a voice sighed from the corner.

I spun, tensing, but it was just Erick again. Annoyed, I crossed my arms and glared out the window into the darkening sky. Stars were just beginning to appear in the sky, which had at some point become entirely cloudless. But the most striking thing was the beautiful moon, which glowed massive and red, dominating much of the horizon as it ascended into the black of the Norwegian sky. It lit up the land in rays of scarlet, causing the snow-covered ground to look as though it were seeping blood.

"Why did you send me away if you were just going to follow me?" I grumbled, glancing back over at my younger brother, who was prodding Mathias's limp body with his bow.

He looked up and gave a small yawn, before saying, "I forgot to tell you something." Looking down at Mathias again, he added, "But I suppose I was a little late."

"It's about Mathias?" I wondered, judging by the way Erick was studying the fallen man.

Erick nodded and stood up straight, gesturing toward the moon. "But not just about Mathias. He isn't the only demon in this world, you know. It all, much like a werewolf or some other mystical being, has to do with moon phases. A little cliché, but, hey, it's your world. Anyway, as it is in the other legends, the moon affects the appearance and control of the creature. Mathias has been relatively docile all today, hasn't he? Rather unlike how you know him on Earth. But that was because it was daytime. Demons are Hell's creatures, so they thrive on darkness and the night…and the phase of the moon. Tonight, the moon is full, which means the demons are at full power."

I eyed him, trying to understand. "And what happens to the demons when they're at full power?"

He shrugged, staring off into the distance. "Basically, they become true to their nature. You can never truly trust such a hellish being because they're full of all sorts of trickery. Yes, on the outside that boy has the face of a trustworthy person in your life…but what does he look like on the inside? Is he still the same Mathias you know?"

"How do you know so much about what's happening?" I questioned. "And where are Tino and Berwald at?"

Erick scratched the back of his head thoughtfully. "Well, you would know all this if you could remember the last time you visited us. Moon phases here in Norway are a bit different than on Earth, and it doesn't take more than a week for the moon to become full, like it is now. I just know this because I've been here so long. As to the whereabouts of our cousins…they realized that tonight was a night they shouldn't remain here with Mathias. They went to stay with their parents in the town."

I narrowed my eyes at my brother. "How do you know that? You've been with me nearly this whole time."

Erick blinked and held up a yellow sheet of paper. "It was on this sticky note."

I took the note from him and read it over quickly, scoffing in disgust and crumpling it up. "Too bad they didn't have the common sense to just tell me while I was still at their house, instead of wasting valuable paper."

"Too bad you didn't have the common sense to read the note on the door."

I felt my eye twitch, but ignored my fury, instead looking back out the window at the beautiful night. It calmed me to see such a clear sky, despite the somewhat gory moon that occupied the majority of it. In fact, relief flooded through me as I stared up at the stars; they seemed to be the only thing that had truly remained the same since I'd trapped myself in the walls of my own mind.

"It's like a fairytale…" I muttered, placing my hand on the pane of glass before me, stretching out my fingers and watching in wonder as my handprint steamed itself upon the window. "Like every book Mother ever read to us when we were young."

Erick came up beside me. Gently, he said, "But that's just the point. This place is made of what you wish for the most. It's obvious how much you miss Mother…_Far_ wasn't lying, Lukas. When he said he saw her, that is. But if I give him any hope that she's here, any at all, he's going to die trying to find her. Because here, only one person can see her; the person who created this land to begin with."

"I wished for Mathias to be a demon and for you to be dating an Australian merman?" I couldn't help but question my sanity.

"We aren't dating," Erick muttered, flushing lightly. "Now please, listen to what I'm saying. Only you can see Mother…and I promise you she won't be easy to find."

I took my hand off the window. "Meaning?"

"If you really want to return back to Earth, you have to go find her. She's the key to returning to your home dimension. But there's a catch. You have to bring someone with you…someone impure. If I'm not mistaken, you'll have to mix "the blood of Satan" with "the heart of God" or something like that in order to access the secret kingdom where she's hidden…so I guess that just means take Mathias. But as to mixing blood and love, I'm entirely unsure of what that entails." He gave me a considering glance, looked back over to where Mathias was beginning to stir, and looked back at me again. "Goodnight."

As quickly as he had appeared, Erick dissipated into the shadows of the night.

Distrustfully, I watched Mathias sit up and shake his head, groaning, "Jeez…what happened…?"

"Is it a habit of yours to try and rape people, or do you just like me that much?" I demanded, wondering edgily if he was still under a spell.

His head lolled around to look at me, his eyes again reflecting the scarlet of the moon. "No! I mean, no, I don't rape people all the time! I've never raped anyone! It's just that…I don't know…I knew what I was doing but I couldn't stop myself…I felt so drawn to you that I just…"

I cocked my head to the side, studying his face. "You felt like you could take advantage of me. Clearly, it didn't work out that way," I told him, pointing to the spit glob on his shirt.

He looked down, but then shook his head. "No…" he said, his voice pleading. "I didn't feel like that. I don't think I felt anything...except that I saw you and I guess I kinda wanted you."

"Isn't desire a feeling?" I pointed out, although I was slightly pleased.

He smiled at me, his eyes fading back to a gentle blue. "Yeah, I guess it is. It's weird, though, that I felt that way…I mean, the moon doesn't usually affect me. But then you come here and I act like a total psycho. I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he told me, sliding down to one knee in a familiar bow. "Please forgive me."

Disgruntled and slightly embarrassed, I turned away from him. "Fine, I forgive you. Whatever. But in exchange for my forgiveness, you have to answer a question."

"Okay!" Mathias said eagerly. "Bring it on!"

"What does "the blood of the Devil" and "the heart of God" mean? What happens if you mix them?"

He brought up a gloved hand, sticking up his pointer finger. "First of all…that was more than one question." Watching my fury rise, he hurried on. "And secondly…where did you hear that from?"

"Erick told me that was the only way for me to find my mother and get back home."

Mathias placed a finger under his chin, thinking. "Erick told you that? Well, then I guess it must be true…he spends every hour that he isn't playing, instrument or otherwise, finding out about this strange mental prison you've captured us all in. I guess he wants to find a way to break out or something."

I raised an eyebrow. "But he can't do that. He isn't real, and neither are you. I made you up. I made everything up. Every single one of you already exists in the dimension that I'm from. Besides, why would you want to leave your home?"

Mathias's eyes grew dark and he turned his back to me, clutching his axe harder in his grasp. "Aren't real? Made up? Already exist?" His expression burning, he turned back to me. "How can I possibly not exist here if I know that I breathe? That I bleed? That I feel? Majesty, you must be mistaken. I exist, whether it be in your imagination or not."

Surprised by his contradictory outburst, I couldn't help but continue the argument. "You exist in my imagination, but you aren't the real Mathias. The real Mathias is probably having a panic attack at home right now because his beloved master and charge disappeared from the castle."

He shook his head vigorously, his blond spikes swaying. "I'm real…I'll always exist here. I'm Mathias. I'm just a little bit different from the one who plays guard dog at your castle. That doesn't make him anymore real than me, does it?"

"I'm aware of who's real and who's not. After all," I told him, "This is MY utopia. So maybe you're mistaken. Everything is just a figment of my imagination, including the entirety of this dimension. Which includes all the characters that reside here."

Again, he clenched his hands into fists, before sighing and relaxing, his face slipping into a miserable expression. "Lukas…can't I still be something special to you?"

For a moment, I remained silent, contemplating. "Yes," I said finally. "You can be special. Be the blood of the Devil that takes me to where my mother is."

With a sad, lopsided smile, he hauled the axe over his shoulder and bowed again, kissing my hand this time. "As you wish, My King. Anything for you."

I felt the slightest bit of guilt nagging at the back of my head, but I ignored it, satisfied that I had played all the pieces correctly and to my advantage. "Good. Now take me to my bed."

His head down, Mathias guided me to my room and pulled back the covers carefully, watching me as I crawled into the massive bed. Then he tucked the covers back around me and pulled something wooden out from the nightstand. As I watched, it became clear what the strange instrument was; it was my music box, the one Tino and Berwald had made for me on my birthday. Shocked, I watched with wide eyes as Mathias wound it up and the song's intro began, tinkling out the familiar tune. In a sense of déjà vu, I held my breath and closed my eyes, listening quietly as Mathias started to sing along.

That night, I dreamed that I visited home…the Kingdom where I had been born. Father was there, talking to the man who had given him the poison desperately, asking why my eyes still wouldn't open. Mathias was beside me in my bed, the sneak, sleeping with his arms around my unresponsive body, watching over me even as he slept. Erick was hiding in his room, whispering to someone out his opened window. Tino and Berwald were asleep in their room, sleeping peacefully. Finally, I stopped beside my own body again, my face pale and sullen. Mathias suddenly started awake, staring over at not my lifeless body, but _me_. His eyes widened, his teeth un-pointed as his mouth broke into a grin.

"Lukas!" he gasped happily, forgetting my title.

He could…see me? I gave a hesitant wave of my hand just to be sure.

Mathias waved back, sitting on the edge of my bed. "Lukas…" he said again, his voice getting slightly emotional. "Where have you been? How are you here? Can you talk?"

"I could if you'd just give me a chance," I grumbled, putting a hand on my hip.

"It really is you…"

I sighed. "Of course it is…I think I must be dreaming, though. I can't really be back home."

Mathias's mouth slipped into a pout and he brushed a hand through his hair. I tried not to watch as his shirtless muscles flexed with the movement. "But you're here! Where have you been?"

"I've…been in another dimension," I informed him, sitting beside him on the bed. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed the real Mathias's naïve charm. "Apparently one I created with my mind. Everyone is there, even you, but it's almost like I've transformed the real world into a ridiculous fairy tale."

"Really? I'm there, too?"

I nodded, giving him a look to tell him how much of an idiot he was. "And the only way I can leave is by finding my mother…and mixing the blood of the Devil with the heart of God."

Confused, he bit his lip. "What does that mean?"

With another heavy sigh, I shook my head. "I'll just have to figure that out when I get there with your demonic counterpart."

"Demonic counterpart? You mean I'm a demon in another dimension?! Sweet!" he cheered, almost knocking my body off the bed in his excitement.

"Watch it," I told him as he caught "me", but again, I just felt relieved to be back with him.

When he was sure "I" was okay, he turned back to the dream version of me, his eyes sad. "I've really missed you, Prince Lukas…"

A little awkwardly, he reached out to hug me…and fell right through.

I looked at my hands, and, finding them dissipating, I gave Mathias a scowl. "I think I'm waking up…but I'm going to come back," I assured him. "So don't leave my side. And that's an order."

With a smile and a bow, he said, "Yes, Prince Lukas!"

When I woke up, I could feel a pair of warm arms wrapped around me, and a slight snore sounding in my ear. Furiously, I yanked the demon's arms off, and left the bed, walking barefooted into the kitchen. The tile felt like ice against my toes and almost as slippery, but I ignored the discomfort and made my way into the nearest bathroom, wiping my face with a washcloth and staring into my reflection again.

It had changed from the first apparition I'd seen of myself, where I'd resembled an angel. Now I just appeared as myself. Surprised, I made my way back into the kitchen, where Tino had somehow appeared and was making eggs in a frying pan. Seeing me, he gave me a happy grin.

"Good morning, King Lukas!" he said cheerfully.

I ignored him and sat down at the table, still a little miffed about being left to Mathias's demonic mood.

Sensing my distress, Tino piled my plate with food and gave me an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry we left you last night…Berwald insisted that we leave before Mathias got too crazy and he made me go before I could tell you! I left you a note…did you get it?"

Grimacing at the memory, I told him stiffly, "Yes. I got the note."

Tino seemed to relax at that, and he laughed. "Good! Then you stayed with your brother last night?"

"No. I stayed here. I didn't find the note in time."

His expression changed again and he looked away guiltily. "I'm really, really sorry, Lukas…what did Mathias do to you? I was so worried the whole time we were away!"

"He tried to rape me, but I beat him up."

Tino gave me a look of horror and almost dropped his whisk. At the same time, Mathias came into the room, yawning hugely, with a, "I'm STARVING!" Plopping down at the table, he rubbed his eyes before finally catching onto to the mood in the room. Seeing the way Tino was looking at him like a beaten puppy, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms defensively.

"I swear I didn't do it on purpose, Tino!" he said, catching on way too quickly for Mathias. "I just…he looked so…"

I peered over at Mathias, annoyed. "You aren't helping yourself. And stay out of my bed."

He grinned suggestively at me and muttered, "Yes, King Lukas, but don't you think we should be spending more time together if we're going to go find your mom together? Gotta get used to being close, don't we?"

"Stay out of my bed," I repeated. "Besides, we don't necessarily have to go together. We could just meet up at the kingdom where my mother is, figure out this ridiculous ritual, and then be free from each other for eternity."

He scoffed. "Without you, there's no reason for me to even be going."

Tino turned again, looking concerned. "When did you decide you were going to find your mother?"

"When Erick came over and told me it was the only way for me to go back to my real home," I told him, eating my breakfast. "We leave after I'm done eating."

The Finnish man looked down, his hat falling to the side slightly. With melancholy brown eyes, he looked up at me. "Weren't you even planning on saying goodbye?"

I considered his upset look and decided a lie would be less painful than the truth. "Yes. But Berwald isn't here…so I couldn't say goodbye to everyone."

Seeming appeased, Tino went to fetch Berwald.

Mathias looked over at me, gnawing on a piece of bacon. "Why'd you lie about that?"

Rubbing my temples, I tossed the remains of my breakfast in the garbage. "Hurry, we're leaving before he gets back. I'm not wasting time saying goodbye to people I'm going to see again."

Without a word of protest, Mathias followed me.


	6. Ectothermic

**Okay, i had something planned to write here yesterday, but fanfic wouldn't let me log on so...i forgot!~ XP Anyway, hope you like this chapter and please review! Make a tater happy ;)**

I crunched through the heavy snow, feeling the air's frigid chill for the first time since I'd arrived here. With a small shiver, I pulled my thick coat closer to my body, willing myself not to glance back at the miniature mansion I'd left behind and trying not to picture the devastated look on Tino's face as he made his way into an empty kitchen. I promised myself it didn't matter how the Tino here in this dimension felt; only the Tino on the other side was important. It was just my conscience speaking to me, convincing me that I was heartless.

Pushing back rising guilt, I focused instead on which direction I was walking. It seemed I had naturally followed the direction the wind was blowing…unable to see the sun, I supposed this was the second best direction to walk.

"If we keep going this way, we're going to end up in the forest, and there're a lot worse things than me in there," Mathias said, as if responding to my thoughts.

Truthfully, I had nearly forgotten he was there, he'd been so quiet. Very un-Mathias-like. Sighing, I grumbled, "Don't tell me that's where Snow White lives with her dwarves."

"Huh? Who's Snow White?" He cocked his head to the side slightly. Then, as if realizing something awful, his face grew strangely serious. "Is she…your girlfriend from the other dimension?"

Voicing my disgust, I rolled my eyes and shoved my hands into the pockets of my jacket, turning back around to find that the horizon was no longer just snow-covered hills. Instead, there seemed to be a large amount of dark, scary, fog-coated trees. I stared in disbelief, wondering what other cliché my mind was going to come up with. Would there be some ridiculous villain chasing after us, determined to steal Mathias's blood after it had been mixed with the heart of God? Maybe a vicious sword battle to end that dispute? Would we get the girl in the end and become the princes of some distant land?

Lost in my own mind, I didn't realize Mathias had made his way in front of me until I collided with him.

I straightened myself silently, looking up to see that his face was dark, menacing. "What are you doing?" I asked, irritated. "We've got to get away quickly."

Roughly, he grabbed my shoulders. Then his expression shifted to something…gentler that reminded me much more of the real Mathias. "King Lukas, I can't allow you to go into that forest. I'm afraid…I'm afraid that if we go through there, you may never get to go home. What happens if you die here? You will never see your precious Earth again. As fake as you believe this dimension is, death will always be real."

I looked away, unnerved by his soft tone. "That's the way I think we should go."

"I know where your mother's palace is." Slowly, he released his hold on me.

I glared at him, growling, "No, you don't. Erick already told me that I'm the only one who can see my mother, and that we can find the castle by mixing blood and love."

Something flickered darkly in his eyes. "Of course I meant I know a shortcut that won't take us through those woods. We'll still be going the same direction and it'll be way faster to the village."

I could feel the strange aura building between us, but I wasn't about to give in. "Don't be ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with this forest except it's from every fairytale I've ever encountered. I don't believe there's anything in there more dangerous than Bambi."

"You don't know this place like I do!" he snarled, his voice rising furiously. Then, as if realizing he'd lost it, he sucked in a deep breath of air and looked away. "Please…" he said in a muted voice. "It will cut down our time by a lot and will be much less dangerous for you."

"Maybe I don't care if it's dangerous. After all, I have you to protect me, don't I?" I realized right as the words slipped out of my mouth that he would take that the wrong way.

Clearly pleased by my "flirting," Mathias took my hand in his. "Of course you have me!"

Ripping my hand out of his, I glared at him. Through gritted teeth, I asked, "So then we can go through the forest…?"

"Nope!" he said, taking my hand again and pulling me towards his so called shortcut.

I attempted to yank away again, but this time his grip was true. Instead, I just spat, "Fine, we can take the shortcut, but you WILL let go of my hand."

"Y'know…" With a smile, he gripped me even tighter, squishing my fingers together painfully. "I don't think I will!"

Surprised by his disobedience, I pretended to be sulking and instead focused on quietly analyzing ways to disarm the bastard. I just needed to find the right pressure point…with 385 to choose from, I doubted it would be difficult to ruin him in a matter of seconds. Locating the closest one, I drew my hand back to punch him…but I never got that far. As if sensing what I'd been about to do, Mathias had adjusted his axe so that it covered the exact spot I'd been focusing on.

He glanced over his shoulder with an aggravatingly egotistical smirk. "Would you like to ride on my back, King Lukas? Are you getting tired?"

"Don't talk down to me," I told him, wishing I was home.

Acting as if he hadn't heard me at all, I found myself being tossed into the air and onto Mathias's broad back. "Are you comfy, Your Highness?" I could hear the laughter in his voice. "You better hold on tight so you don't fall!"

"Put me down." I could feel my control slipping, my patience stretched microscopically thin.

"Lukas, you're so cute, kind of like a girl, but much more beautiful," he continued, irking me further.

"Don't call me beautiful. No man wants to hear that," I informed him, but my face was heating up.

He chuckled. "But you are beautiful, man or not! Every time I see you, my heart starts throbbing and I feel all tingly…I guess that's what it feel like to love someone."

Had he…just confessed his love for me? "I've only been here one night," I pointed out, trying to ignore my own heart's reaction to him.

"Maybe, but I knew that I wanted to be with you from the first time I saw you. And don't forget that you've been here before, Lukas. That's when I really got to know you. I was surprised that you came back to visit! I was sure the last time we'd said goodbye, you'd never be coming back."

I stayed silent, gazing up at the sky, wondering why I couldn't seem to recall my first experience here. How long ago had it been? How long had that visit lasted? Had I gotten home then the same way I was getting home now? It bothered me that I couldn't remember a whole section of my own life.

"So…when you get home, what're you going to do?" Mathias asked, breaking my thought process. "I mean, are you going to at least visit sometimes?"

I could feel the weight associated with this question, that my answer was incredibly important to him. "I don't know how I ended up here to begin with," I told him honestly. "If I must be poisoned by my father every time I feel like seeing this world, then I won't be returning."

He let my answer sink in, before quietly muttering, "You really don't ever want to come back. It's obvious that you think this world is just a cheap copy of your own home, the people you come across here unimportant. But you don't realize that we aren't just copies. In our minds, we are the originals. We are individuals. There's no one else like me in the world, anywhere. Wouldn't you like to feel that way? That you're special? Doesn't everybody feel like they're the most important them?"

"You're developing a Mathias complex. What exactly are you trying to prove by telling me this?"

He gave a huff. "Well, I'm just thinking maybe you should stay here where you're free from your father's abuses, you own a whole land, and you have people who love you."

"I have people who love me at home," I murmured, though I was uncertain.

He had no trouble picking up on my infinitesimal insecurity. "But you already know I love you! And I'd take care of you forever, here! Will your little lap dog Mathias do that for you? Plus, you have Tino, Berwald, and Erick! It's your utopia! Why would you ever want to leave it?"

"Because this isn't a utopia. Utopia's don't exist. I believe I'm experiencing this just so that I can learn the lesson that I can never have everything that I desire. Or possibly that everything I desire in one place is really an awful scenario."

When Mathias spoke again, I could tell I had hurt him. "I…suppose you really think that way, don't you? Analytical and judgmental about everything." He gave a cold laugh. "Do you believe there's a higher power watching over us?"

"Possibly…but I find that doubtful. If there is, though, I'm guessing they feel that torturing the human race just to teach us a lesson is highly amusing."

"But you were an angel when you came here, weren't you?" Mathias pointed out.

I remembered my image in the mirror, the shock of it all just a strange memory now. It was a good point. "That's true."

A heavy silence fell over us as Mathias continued through the endless fields of thick snow, the mountains looming menacingly in the distance. The dark forest we had come upon was a thing of the past now. In fact, it almost seemed like Mathias was headed toward the mountains on purpose…to avoid going anywhere near the woods. I tried to compare the danger of what had been in there to the danger we were going to face hiking on the mountains in the midst of an ever-constant Norwegian blizzard.

The wind speed had definitely picked up, the temperature falling steadily. I was surprised to find myself shivering, despite the combined heat of Mathias and my coat keeping me warm. I had been sure that I was all but immune to the cold, growing up in a place where the winters were so harsh. Closing my eyes, I imagined a heated summer, one where the temperature was above normal. Instead of staring into an icy reflection in the pond, I was playing in the frigid water, keeping cool in the shocking heat. I was young again, not more than five, and my mom was playing with me, splashing Erick and I as we squealed happily, the sun's intense rays bouncing all around us…

But I was still cold.

Opening my eyes again, I could see the snowfall had intensified even further while I'd drifted in my memories. Mathias was humming underneath me, maybe trying to entertain himself while he dragged me through the horrid conditions, yet he seemed unaffected by the freeze. He didn't even seem to realize I was shivering.

Determined to not seem weak, I did the best I could to remain still and asked quietly, breaking our long silence, "Will Tino and Berwald follow us this far?"

"You're worried about them following us? Nah, I doubt Berwald would ever let Tino up here. I swear, he's way too protective! I mean, they're cousins, right? Why are they in love with each other?! It's just a little creepy."

"How are you not cold?" I wondered, changing the subject.

Surprised, he stopped walking and glanced back at me. "Why, are you? I know that mountains are supposed to be really cold and stuff, but I've never been good at judging temperature…I pretty much stay the constant temperature of 109 degrees." His eyebrows came together, a line of worry forming between them. "If we don't stop, we get out quicker, but your lips are really blue…okay, don't worry, Your Majesty, I'll take care of you."

Perturbed, I gave him a quick grimace, but didn't argue when he set me gently back on my feet and promptly began digging into a massive snowdrift, hacking away at the tiny ice crystals savagely with his axe. I meandered over to him, peering over his shoulder into the cavern he was creating, and remembered suddenly that the best way to escape the frigid, dangerous blizzards in any place was to create a sort of snow cave until the heaviest of the snow ceased. So, despite his lacking the ability to assess the temperature, he had learned all the basics of human survival.

Strange, seeing as he wasn't really human.

I couldn't help but gaze at Mathias as he worked, his shoulder's set in determination, his eyes alight with a deep blue fire…it was all for me, I knew, and yet there was still the desperate desire for me to hate him. However, with the same physical makeup, nearly the same personality, and same ethics as the other Mathias, it was hard to feel anything but warmth when he came to mind. Though it was highly unlikely that I would ever admit such an idiotic thing to such an idiotic guy. It would go right to his big head.

And yet, in the same way, he wasn't Mathias. This was a demon, a dangerous denizen of Hell. My Mathias was simply a well-trained bodyguard.

Putting the last touches on the den, the Danish man turned to look at me, an unbelievably stupid smile on his face. He gestured inside and told me, "Welcome to your palace, My King."

Ignoring him, I strutted inside, only to find that this "palace" he spoke of, was nothing more than a tiny hole, which he apparently intended for us to share. Squeezing in after me, he pushed more snow in front of the entrance and sat down, cradling me carelessly up against his heated body and glancing down at my furious expression with a sly smile. "Just relax a little, we're going to be here for the whole night! Might as well get comfortable!"

Unable to think of anything to say, I just tensed further, shoving my elbow roughly into his ribs.

He grunted, but it sounded more like a laugh than anything. "Hey, hey, no need to be so savage…I'm not gonna do anything!"

"Uh huh," I grumbled, unconvinced. "Next you're going to tell me that you didn't make this hole so small on purpose."

"Why, whatever do you mean, Highness?"

I sighed, scooting as far away as possible, closing my eyes and leaning on an ice wall. If I could sleep, I wouldn't have to deal with this imbecile's all too obvious advances. Yet even after a few minutes of attempting to relax, I seemed to be able to think of nothing but the sound of Mathias's gentle breathing in the darkness as he drifted off.

Outside, I could hear the fierce wind roaring, a dangerous storming brewing behind the den's thin snow wall. I shivered again gently, but I could definitely feel myself thawing out as Mathias's body heat enveloped me in the enclosed area. Even when he was asleep, he was protecting me, whether he realized it or not. In resignation, I shimmied back over to him and collapsed beside his unconscious body, letting his gentle warmth slowly lull me into a light, fitful sleep.

"Lukas! Lukas, please wake up!"

My eyes flickered half-open as I registered the sound of Mathias calling out to me. "What?" I grumbled, reaching out to pull my pillow over my face.

Instead, I found myself grabbing onto a long, dark cloak. "Lukas, you need to open your eyes," Mathias demanded.

Why couldn't this jerk just let me sleep? I felt lethargy weigh heavily on my body, the will to find out what Mathias needed dwindling slowly. He could wait just a few more minutes, right? He would wake me up later…Slowly, my lids slipped shut again.

"King Lukas!" Mathias yelled, grabbing onto my shoulders and hauling me into a painful sitting position. "Open your eyes! Now!"

Sucking in a shallow breath, I forced my eyes all the way open, only to realize I was still in completely darkness. What had happened to me? Was I blind? "Mathias," I murmured, finding that my voice was no more than a hoarse whisper. "I can't see."

With an impatient tongue click, a light suddenly flickered on. Mystified, I stared uncomprehendingly at the ball of fire flickering inside of Mathias's partially closed palm. His face was shadowed strangely, his eyes a weird rusty blood color. "Lukas, do you know where you are? Ugh…this is all my fault!" I was surprised to hear the utter remorse that colored his tone, the tangible regret that came with his words.

"What's…your fault?" I rambled, my mouth heavy.

"I should've never fallen asleep…" He ran his free hand through his hair before setting his shoulders again. "Well, it's too late to think about it now…Lukas, this is going to sound really weird, but…I need to remove your clothes."

Almost instantly, I was alert again. "Don't even think about it," I spat at him, though my voice was still slightly out of it.

Grunting in frustration, Mathias pulled me closer to him. "Listen," he said slowly, whispering into my ear. "You're sick, so I just need you to do what I say, okay? I'm trying to save you."

"More like you're trying to take advantage of me. And I know I'm sick, my father poisoned me…but I don't see why that means you should take off my clothes."

For a moment, he seemed stunned into silence, but he quickly recovered. "You don't even realize where you are, do you?"

"Idiot, of course I know where I am. I'm in my room, recovering from the poison my father gave me instead of my vitamins," I told him, wondering why he was acting so dense.

"Look around!" Mathias shouted, grabbing my head and turning it. "Does this look like your room to you?!"

For the first time since I'd woken, I looked around, my neck stiff and frozen. "No," I admitted. "Where are we?"

With an infuriated shake of his head, his crimson eyes burning, Mathias yanked off my clothes, followed by his. Eyes wide, I stared in disbelief as he encased my frozen, naked body with his own fiery one, transferring his heat slowly into my bare skin. The longer he held me, the more aware I became, my situation finally coming back to me. By the time my mind was functioning fully again, I could no longer find a voice to protest Mathias holding me.

The contours of his body fit mine surprisingly well, our breathing synced as we lay there. I couldn't help wondering if this was what it would feel like to be held by the other Mathias…My mind drifting again, I almost didn't hear the quiet padding of footsteps outside our cavern. In fact, I was sure I was imagining it until Mathias sucked in a ragged breath, his body tensing as we were suddenly bathed in a blinding light, the covering to our hole brushed away.

Too shocked to move, I found myself staring into the slightly amused eyes of my brother, wondering absently what he was thinking as he absorbed the scene before him.

Of course, he'd never been the kind to keep his mouth shut.

"Well, that's an inventive way to keep warm during a snowstorm. I prefer a coat myself."


	7. Ablaze

**Hello again :) Um, well...This story definitely wins the prize for longest amount of time between updates! It's been over a year, and for that I apologize. But it's back and I am determined to finish it this time :) Thank you for anyone who happened to stick out the time and thank you for any new readers, as well! I hope you enjoy the read!**

"The storm has passed," Erick added. "You must keep moving. Despite Mathias's earlier dismissal, you seem to be being followed by two very determined shapeshifters. If you plan to outrun them, you'll have to continue soon."

A small growl escaped my demonic counterpart's lips, his irises blazing. "Are you serious? I thought for sure Berwald would never let Tino up this far into the mountains!"

Sighing, I felt around for my clothes in the snow, coming up with everything but my underwear. I narrowed my eyes at Mathias, in no mood for his ridiculous games. "Why have they followed us?" I asked my brother, while prying the other man out of the way with a well-placed knee to the side. "Are they hoping to bring me back? Convince me to stay here? I have already heard those pleas from every other person in this weird world, and I'm not about to start listening now."

Mathias grunted, reluctantly pulling my boxers out from underneath his bottom and handing them over.

Erick crossed his arms, gazing out into the sunny horizon. "I don't know what they want. Unfortunately, the ability to read minds doesn't come with the _fosse_ package. But it's pretty obvious that they will slow you down if you meet them."

"Would a little extra time with me be so bad, though?" Mathias asked, grinning. "We could get to know each other even better, although after last night…" He trailed off.

"After last night, you still know nothing about me," I grumbled, yanking myself out of the cavern and using some snow to smooth down my wild hair.

I looked around at the mountains, stunned by how beautiful they could be when the weather was calm. For miles, the snow-capped rocks climbed higher and higher, seeming to stretch to forever in the distance. Topped off with a marble blue sky, the universe almost appeared normal for the first time since I'd arrived here. It could have been home….if not for the pointy-toothed freak and my golden-eyed brother standing behind me.

"Man! Where'd my axe go?" I heard Mathias complain, shifting around in the snow. "It wouldn't fit in the cave, so I thought it'd be safe out here…"

Turning back, I saw his shoving himself into drifts, using his mysterious fire to melt it away. "What made you think anything would be safe out in a huge blizzard?" I muttered, mostly to myself, but Mathias looked up anyway.

He gave me an easy grin, though there was annoyance in his eyes. "Usually I just have to call it back to me, but for some reason it isn't working this time. Damn demon weapons can be so moody." Pouting, he continued his search.

"What is his name?" Erick wondered, twirling his scarf around a finger absently. "Perhaps he has some sort of resentment for being left to freeze to death while you two cuddled naked?"

"_Mogens_." Mathias stood up straight, a breeze rolling through the air. He stiffened as it brushed through his hair, sending his nostrils flaring and his eyes flashing angrily in my brother's direction. "They're closer than you said! You actually want Lukas to get caught, don't you?"

Erick regarded the fiery demon with boredom. "Of course I don't. Sabotage wasn't on my agenda for today. You're just taking too long looking for _Mogens_."

The moment the name left his lips, golden fire swirled up from underneath a drift of snow, blazing as the weapon flew through the air and into Erick's conveniently opened palm. He blinked at it, fingers closing around the hilt automatically, before an amused smirk made its way onto his lips. "It would seem I am correct about his resentment."

Mathias gaped at his axe. "_M-Mogens_! Why didn't you come out earlier?! Why are you letting another man touch you?" He snatched it from Erick, hugging it close and cooing to it.

Rolling my eyes at the ridiculous scene, I wrapped my arms around my cold body and began trudging through the thick snow. It wasn't like we had time to waste with pointless banter. Somewhere, my mother was waiting with the answer to my desires, and they were wasting our chance. With Tino and Berwald on our tails, there was only more incentive to hurry to the village where she lived.

"Hey! Hey, wait! Lukas!" Mathias called after me, hurrying to stand by my side. "You shouldn't just wander away like that…something bad could happen to you." His voice brimmed with nothing but worry for me.

"We're taking too long. Tino and Berwald are catching up every second you waste on my brother."

He frowned, but said, "You're right. I'm sorry, my king. But leaving without my axe would be a very bad idea."

I raised an eyebrow and tried to seem disinterested. "And the reason for that is?"

His expression darkened, though his eyes remained a clear blue color. "Well, even though we avoided the forest, there are still menacing creatures in the mountains. Without the power of my axe, it would be very difficult to take them down."

"What sorts of creatures?" I wondered, imagining giant snow beasts and feral polar bears.

"There are these gargantuan snow beasts and crazy polar bears!" Mathias said exuberantly, motioning with his hands.

Well then.

"They like to attack out of nowhere, what with their incredible camouflage, so please be careful," he continued. "Plus there are all kinds of crevasses that you could fall in! Maybe you should ride on my back again."

I gave him a side-glare, expecting him to have that ridiculous, flirtatious expression on again…but his face was completely honest. "Stop," I said anyway, trying not to feel guilty as I snapped at him. "I'm not a child anymore, nor am I a helpless little girl, so I would appreciate it if you would treat me as a man."

"I just want to protect you," Mathias protested. "That's my job as your bodyguard. Not only that, but keeping you safe makes me feel at ease. If I know I'm giving it everything I have, then you can't get hurt."

I kicked an ice clump by my feet, checking over my shoulder to see if Erick had disappeared into thin air again. He had; there was nothing behind us but more snowdrifts. I turned back around, shoving my icy hands into the pockets of my coat. The more I thought about the way he acted, the animalistic eyes, the lazy, knowledgeable attitude, the more I saw a sneaky cat, sticking his curious nose into everyone else's business. Forget a _fossegrimen._ He was an unsmiling Cheshire Cat.

"Fine then. But you aren't picking me up again," I ordered, taking a step away from him. "As long as you do your duty without any more unnecessary physical contact, I will not complain."

He chuckled, his voice low and attractive. "But you actually like being touched, don't you, King? You didn't seem to have any objections last night."

My eyes searched the ground for something to throw at his dumb blockhead, but, coming up with nothing but more snow, I settled on simply glowering some more. "I had plenty of objections. However, I didn't really have much say when you started ripping my clothes off, did I?"

Mathias grunted and swung the axe over his shoulder. "I didn't want you to catch hypothermia! I heard somewhere that it's best to get naked in the cold when you have two people! That way you can share body heat!"

"You made that up." I would never admit that I had heard something similar to that once.

"I did no-" he began, but midsentence he stiffened again, a deep growl starting in his throat. "Do you smell that?"

Humoring him, I gave the crisp air a sniff. "Yes…it smells like air."

"No." His eyes were crimson again, his whole body stiff like an angry dog. "I smell something…it's not an animal. Another person?"

I couldn't help but think how efficient this enhanced sense of smell was for guarding. This Mathias was able to pick up on danger before it appeared, maybe even help to avoid it. The other Mathias would be forced to fight surprise attacks and use his dull human instincts to protect me. I had to admit, if I was going to be stuck in a dangerous, psychotic dimension where I could be killed at any moment, it was this one that I wanted to have by my side.

He pulled me closer, protectively wrapping his free arm around me. "I can smell magic on him, but the scent is still human…We should leave. How opposed are you to flying?"

I looked down at his strong arm clasped around my waist, then back to his face. "It's fine," I said, though how he was going to carry me and his oversized weapon, I wasn't entirely sure.

"Alright!" he said with inexplicable enthusiasm, flapping his powerful bat-like wings and soaring into the air.

From my spot in his arms, I watched as the ground grew further and further away, the white of the land expanding the higher we got. "If you could fly this whole time," I yelled over the sound of the wind whistling across my face, "why didn't you, idiot?"

Mathias's body was hot, pressed up against my back. His chuckle rumbled through my entire frame. "The weather yesterday sucked. You expect me to fly through a snowstorm?"

"Well, it would have been helpful if you had. We might have already been to the village by now," I answered, mostly to myself.

He didn't reply, but somehow I had the feeling he had heard me.

We continued over the landscape easily, the air sharp and cold. Not only was our pace quickened by this method of travel, but it brought with it a sense of openness that I had never felt before. This was what freedom felt like. No longer trapped within the bindings of the castle, no longer pressured by other people…Mathias was showing me all I'd wanted since the beginning. He was teaching me how to fly.

I was an angel. I had wings of my own.

"I want to try," I said suddenly, looking at him.

He blinked. "You want to try? Try what?"

"Let go of me," I demanded, struggling to get out of his grip.

"Hey, are you crazy?! If you fall from here, you're going to die!" Mathias tightened his arm around me. "I don't mind holding you."

I continued to squirm, despite the fact that his muscles were twice the size of mine. "I want to fly. I'm an angel, right? Then I have wings. So I want you to let me go."

"King Luka-"

"That is an order," I added, using the only power I had over him.

His eyebrows furrowed. "I…I…can't do that, Majesty. It's my job as your bodyguard to protect you, and I'm pretty sure dropping you from the sky doesn't fall under my guard roll."

I pretended to go limp, to give in. "Fine," I sighed, positioning myself just right.

Mathias sighed in relief. "You know, you're pretty damn weird. Most Kings don't beg to be given the chance to commit suic-"

With all the strength I had, I brought the heel of my foot into his crotch. Even if he was a demon, a shot there would still hurt…right?

I was rewarded with his sharp intake of breath and the loosening of his vice grip, giving me just a large enough opening to slide out of his arm. I fell fast, the ground coming up faster than I had expected it to as I careened down, trying to find how to make my wings work. I had seen them in my reflection; white and feathery, I was sure they would be able to support my weight. Visualizing myself like that, I struggled to flap them…but they remained unresponsive, useless.

"LUKAS!" Mathias screamed from the sky, forgetting my title again.

My heart started pounding as I realized that I was probably going to die. I was falling much too fast for Mathias to reach me in time and, without my wings, there was nothing stopping me from crashing down. I closed my eyes, hoping that it wouldn't hurt too much….knowing that it would. If this were Earth, I would have died already. The shock from such a high jump would have taken me before I could even reach the ground. But this was not my home. This was some insane universe that my mind controlled.

Did I really want to die so badly?

The answer was no. I just wanted to leave this place as soon as I possibly could. But now I would spend the rest of my short life here. Even after death, I would be stuck here. Be buried here. Decay here. I would get no chance to say goodbye to my real life if I let it end now.

"I want to fly…" I whispered.

I felt my wings twitch to life, stretching out like a parachute to slow my descent. Still, I couldn't feel that I had control over them…it was as if they were acting on their own to save me.

"Then flap," I hissed. "Take me into the sky."

Obediently, they followed my order and I shot up into the air.

Mathias was on me before I could react, clutching me close to him. "You're insane! Lukas…Oh, shit…Don't ever do that again, you psycho! I thought you were gonna die!"

I looked at him, intending to tease him for being ridiculous…but again, I found myself silenced by his eyes. The panic was still there, overwhelming fear. He really cared about me. So even demons could love. I allowed him to keep his arms around me…just this once. His warmth felt undeniably comforting and calmed my still-racing heart.

"We should keep moving," I informed him, trying not to get caught up in his strange allure.

"You're right," he said, giving me a stupid smile and taking my hand. "Let's go!"

I yanked my hand away with a scowl. "You're too brazen for your own good. Do not forget your place. Now, how far out are we?"

Mathias tilted his head to the side with a mischievous grin. "Oh, I'd say another couple of hours until we reach the closest village. Not the one where your mother is, but we'll probably need to stop there for the night to rest…and such." He waggled his eyebrows, but I studiously ignored him.

"I don't want to stop," I protested. "You have fire…you can light up our way, correct?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm already tired. My powers need replenishing," he said, with an extremely fake yawn.

I looked away. "I thought demons got their power from the moon."

Mathias nodded, explaining. "We do. But now that it's waning, the surge of power that comes from it is going away. Really, the moon sort of puts us into a weird trance."

I recalled him trying to force me into sex. "Right. Like when you tried to rape me."

"Yeah, like that!" he said without remorse. "My only regret is that I didn't actually get to do you before you knocked me out!"

I glared at him. "Bastard. Stay away from me."

Laughing, he flew ahead of me and went in a loop, his face full of energy. "Hey, let's race! We'll see if angels are actually better than demons, or if they're really just glorified, spoiled rich kids!"

How could I deny a challenge so easily set before me? I knew I would win; all I had to do was order my wings to go faster than Mathias's. "Of course angels are better. After all, demons give in too easily to pressure. That's why they were sent to Hell."

"Oh, you're on. I'll show you the power of Beelzebub is nothing to stick up your nose at," he retaliated with a fanged smile.

I gave him a fierce grimace, motioning for him to fly next to me. "First one to the village, then. It's a straight shot, right?"

He nodded, looking at me with cocky superiority. "That's right. Prepare to eat my dust. Oh, hey, before we go…let's set some conditions! How about a little gambling? If I win, I get to do whatever I want to you all night long!"

"Absolutely not. If I agree to that, I will be dead by tomorrow," I muttered, trying not to feel embarrassed.

"Aw, I was just going to rough you up a teeny bit!" he whispered into my ear.

My arm swung around, but Mathias had learned; snickering, he dove out of the way. "Fine," I relented with annoyance. "But nothing that will interfere with me meeting my mother. And this whole conversation is irrelevant, since I am going to win anyway."

"Sure! So, what's your condition, King Lukas?"

"If I win, you will take me to my mother with no more flirting. You will be strictly business and you will help me leave here without any more detours. I will return home and never come back here." It was harsh, but he needed to hear it. "Agreed?"

The fiery excitement seemed to die down at my words. "Lukas…"

"Shall we begin?" I continued, pretending to be oblivious to the pain I had caused him.

He was no longer grinning; his face had hardened with determination, his eyes glowing crimson again in his anger. "I will win. And I will have you," he hissed, his voice unfriendly and harsh now. "Forever."

"That wasn't your condition. You said one night," I protested, but when he stared at me with those hungry eyes…I felt it was better not to speak to him at all.

"Hello. I will be your referee," a voice called from the ground. Without looking, I knew it was obviously my brother again, appearing out of thin air whenever he deemed it appropriate. "I've brought this raven to make sure you both play fair. There are no real rules, other than the first to the village wins. I'll be waiting there. Good luck. Ready…set…go!" He dissipated into the snow, sending a sleek black raven into the air beside me.


	8. Glaze

We both lurched forward, Mathias immediately taking the lead. His powerful wings cut through the air effortlessly, and in a way it was fascinating. But I had no time to think about something so ridiculously trivial at this moment; if I wanted to win, I would have to try harder. If he managed to get the upper hand in this competition…things would get much more complicated than they needed to be.

"Faster," I whispered, narrowing my eyes as the cold breeze sliced against my face. Obediently, I found myself jetting through the air, until I was neck and neck with my demon bodyguard.

Seeing me, Mathias snarled deeply. "Give up," he demanded, his whole body seeming to blaze with fire. "Give up and I won't have to hurt you."

"What?" I looked at him in confusion. "Hurt me? It's just a race."

His smile was wicked, hellish as he laughed. "The _fosse _said there were no rules. That means I can do whatever I want to make sure I win. And believe me, Majesty…I won't hesitate just because you're royalty." As if to add to his threat, his palms burned with flames.

My heart thrummed in my chest at the threat. How could my own bodyguard treat me this way? Was he not here to keep me safe? I shook myself, trying to focus. He was not the real Mathias. The real Mathias was at home, worrying over my unresponsive body. And home was exactly where I would be headed if I won this stupid competition.

"Fine then," I bluffed, trying to press back the fear. "Do what you want. But don't think I'll give up just because of that."

He smiled, seeing easily through the façade I had put up. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you too badly," he sneered. "Scarring your face would be a huge turn off."

I looked over defiantly. "Like I care about what turns you off, creep."

For a moment, I saw confusion and wonder flash in his expression, as if my comment had brought back his sanity. But before I could read further, his eyes hardened and he was on fire again, looking at me through a haze. "You have some gall, Lukas, trash talking a demon." His fist clenched hard around his battle axe, and the flames spread to surround the weapon. "But in the end, you have no power over me. Nothing but the sound of your voice, ordering me around like some obedient pet!" He laughed, swinging the axe toward me in quick arc.

I dodged the blow, feeling the blade catch a feather and singe it as I narrowly escaped.

"No weapons!" he continued, his voice trembling psychotically. "No special powers! Nothing! You have nothing, Lukas!" He swung the axe again, forcing me to drop back a little.

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right; I had done myself an injustice. Everyone here had some sort of unique ability that made them able to survive, yet I had not given myself any powers. Just the appearance of angel and a set of wings. We were unevenly matched in physical strength. However…speed was a different story. All I had to do was will my wings forward and I was just as quick as Mathias. As I had the thought, I shot like a torpedo past the snarky demon boy, making sure to stay out of range of _Mogens. _ If I could just keep up this pace, I was sure I could still win somehow…

Until I felt a searing pain in my shoulder, hot fingers clutching my bones roughly.

I gasped, biting my lip as I felt his long nails cut the blistering skin open. "Mathias, stop," I tried to order, but my voice came out weak and pained, as if I were begging.

The heat was incredibly intense…so this is what it felt like to be burned alive. Would he continue gripping me until the skin melted off of my body? Instinctive, humiliating tears stung my eyes from the searing injury and at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to fly down into the cool, icy snow to escape this beast's grasp. It would soothe the burn…it would end this horrible fire.

His hand crawled up to my neck, brushing it gently, seductively, making me shiver against my will at his scorching skin. I knew if he reached my wings, this race would be over. I had to do something. But with my shoulder rendering my left arm useless and the feel of Mathias's touch, I felt weaker than I ever had before. Anger stirred inside me at myself; helplessness did not suit me well at all. This was not how the king of Norway should act. It was pathetic.

"Stop," I hissed, my voice coming out strong and clear, as if I were not in immeasurable amounts of pain. "I demand that you stop this now."

Mathias seemed mildly surprised, but his hold did not loosen. "You're stronger than your delicate appearance suggests. You almost sound like a man," he chuckled. "Too bad you're my bitch."

I felt my anger deepen at his insult, the rage boiling inside me. "Unlike you, I am nobody's dog."

He grabbed my neck furiously, the flames torching me again. "Is that all you see when you look at me? A loyal puppy sent to do your bidding? That's pretty selfish of you, King Lukas. I've been nothing but obedient…yet still you…you want to leave again…" As he spoke, his grip became less and less intense, until he was no longer touching me. "How could you leave me again?"

His voice had softened to the point of a hoarse whisper. Surprised by the change, I turned to see that his terrifying demeanor was gone; he now simply looked like an abandoned child. "Why do you want me to stay so badly?" I asked.

His eyelashes cast shadows on his cheeks as he looked down. "Because…you're the only thing that makes my existence complete, Lukas. Without you, I really am just a figment of your imagination. If you're here, this place becomes reality and I become the real Mathias. The real bodyguard. I miss you when you aren't here."

I couldn't help but be drawn in by his sudden mood change. "How can you miss me if I've only been here once before? You hardly know me," I said, feeling embarrassed.

"But I still love you. And that's why I'll do anything to make you stay."

"Even kill me?" I asked, too afraid to look at the blistering burn on my shoulder.

Mathias regarded me with animalistic, cat-like pupils. "If that is what it takes to win this competition for your heart. Murder is the ultimate crime of passion."

"Killing me won't make me love you back. Most people don't find cold-blooded murder attractive. Or physical abuse."

"But I'm not most people, am I?" He gave me a cheery smile, one that mirrored the other Mathias too perfectly. "Being a demon and all. Blood and death get me hot."

I ignored him, realizing that he was trying to sway my focus. "Disgusting," I muttered, flying past him. "I don't understand why you even feel compelled to compete against the other Mathias. It's not like you will ever meet him and I have already decided which world I want to belong to."

He opened his mouth to speak, to explain to me his incessant need to have me by his side, but the moment he did, the eerie music of a perfectly tuned violin permeated the air. It echoed across the mountains, a signal from Erick that we were getting close to the village. Beside me, the raven cawed in response.

"Looks like it's almost over," Mathias said. "I promise that when I win, I'll treat you much more gently."

"And I promise that when _I _win, you will never be able to touch me again," I retorted, my injuries stinging. "You've only made me want to leave this world that much more."

Scowling, we flew side by side, never getting ahead of the other, never falling behind. By the time the village was within our sights, we were practically clawing and biting each other to make the other lose ground. We tumbled into the village that way, nearly running my brother over as we barreled to a stop.

"Well, well. Hello there," Erick said, brushing invisible dirt off of his clothes and motioning for the raven to come to him. "Did you have a nice fight?"

I shoved Mathias away from me and stood straight. "Who won?" I asked.

His yellow eyes shifted down to the bird on his shoulder. "Who indeed?" he said, stroking the black feathered creature. "This guy says that Mathias was awful to you. Are you badly injured? Your shoulder looks horrible. You should probably think about healing it before it gets infected."

I glared at him, grabbing him by the fancy jacket. "Who won?" I repeated through my teeth.

He sighed, bending his head away from me. "If you must know, it was a tie. So I have decided as a compromise…you shall both get what you want. There. Does that suit you, King Lukas?"

Mathias leapt to his feet and came over, his eyes round as he mumbled, "It was a tie? Both get what we want? That means…" His face grew excited for a moment, and fell the next. "That means…"

"Yes, indeed. That means tonight my brother is going to get some," Erick said, his face perfectly serious. "But after that, you can no longer touch him or try to convince him to stay, Mathias. Perhaps you can persuade him with your body."

I closed my eyes, rubbing my forehead. Why had I been so foolishly confident, gambling with a demon? This had not gone the way I had hoped. I didn't want to feel his hands on me. I didn't want to be touched by him. There had to be a way out of this. I knew I was being a coward, but…I was too afraid to experience something like this with someone as unpredictable as him.

A warm hand went through my hair, pulling me out of my internal debate. "I won't hurt you again," Mathias told me, smiling softly.

I shuttered, smacking his arm away. "You're a worthless knockoff," I hissed, putting my head in my hands. "Fuck you."

He drew his hand back, looking pained by my outburst. "No, I'm not."

"May I interrupt this wonderful argument to point out that King Lukas is bleeding?" Erick pointed to my wounds. "Like I said, big brother, you should heal that quickly. A little blast of ice should do the trick."

"What?" I asked, daring to look at my burn for the first time. I nearly gagged at the morose sight of the blisters weeping pus and blood. "What do you mean 'a little blast of ice'?"

He blinked. "Did you honestly think Mathias was the only one with powers? Sigh. You're very slow, you know. If a demon can use fire, then quite obviously an angel should be able to use ice. It's quite simple, if you think about it."

Glowering, I stared down at my hands. "I must think you're quite an asshole, seeing as you act so ridiculously rude in this dimension. As if anyone would know automatically that an angel would have ice powers."

"You also have a weapon. But I'm sure you've figure that much out," Erick added, ignoring my comment. "Well, I have other things to attend to now, so I will be-"

"You mean your boyfriend? That weird Australian merman?"

He turned around abruptly, probably in an effort to cover up his blush. "No. Anyway, it's just a suggestion, but you might want to find Mom quickly. If you stay here too long, Tino and Berwald will catch up. They're caught in a mountain blizzard at the moment, which will buy you some time. Good luck." Without one more glance for me, he meandered out of the village, leaving me alone with Mathias.

I kept my gaze lowered, not wanting to look the creature next to me in the face. Still, I could feel his eyes on me as I tried not to think about what I was going to go through…I focused on attempting to figure out my apparent ice powers instead. The burning was steadily decreasing, but it was still obnoxiously sore and it would be relieving to be rid of it. I continued to stare at my hands, hoping that by some miraculous chance, ice would just fly out of them and heal me.

"Usually, you have to be feeling an extreme emotion to properly use your power," Mathias said, attempting nonchalance. "Those intense feelings bring out the desire to protect yourself and that's how powers usually appear."

"You said that I had no powers," I stated sharply.

"I didn't think you did, since you'd never so much as used a little bit of them. But Erick seems to know every fricking thing that goes on in this place, so I'd trust him. It's weird that it's both a healing and ice power combined, though." He grew quiet for a moment, and his stomach gave a furious gurgle. "Man! I'm so hungry… We haven't eaten since yesterday!"

Frustration flickered inside me. "Then how am I supposed to use the ice?" My eyes shot up to his of their own accord, navy meeting sapphire. "There are no intense, emotional situations."

He cocked his head to the side, his expression peculiar. "I could help you with that," he suggested, bending down so that we were eye level. "If you'll let me."

My heart kicked into gear at his implication, fear and curiosity melding inside me. But I made myself scowl at him, forced myself to decline. This was the demon that would kill me if I let him get too close. This was the demon that had burned my shoulder, my neck, and had never said a word about being sorry for it. This was the demon that didn't really exist, only wanted to. He was the man who I would leave behind.

I turned away, heading toward the village center wordlessly.

"Hey! Hey, Lukas! Where are you going?" Mathias followed after me, grabbing my good shoulder to spin me around. "What's the matter with you? You can't go into town with such a horrible injury. You'll be rushed to the nearest hospital and we might not get to leave here for days!"

"And who is to blame for the horrible injury? Perhaps if you had some dignity and control, we wouldn't be in this situation. Instead, you were so set on winning that competition that you were willing to do anything to rape me. Now I have no idea how to heal myself and we're both hungry."

He backed off submissively, finally wearing the ashamed expression I had been waiting for. "I'm…It's hard not to be what I am, my king. Demons are not tame creatures and they often lose control of their behavior. I may not be able to stop myself sometimes. But I will say this; I am really sorry that I hurt you. I hope it never happens again and I'll do anything within my ability to make sure it doesn't. The last thing any guard wants is for his charge to not trust him. Will you please accept my apology?"

I looked at him disdainfully, but gave a quick nod. "I can forgive your nature if you will forgive me for not wanting to be beside you."

Mathias put a hand over his heart, genuflecting before me. "I will do my best, King Lukas. Your forgiveness is all I can ask for. After tonight, I will not pester you anymore."

My hand drifted toward his sporadic, spiky hair, fingers clutching at it. Savagely, I yanked upward. "Quit it. You really look like a dog that way, licking my feet. It's unsightly."

He gave a shocked yelp, hurrying back up. "Ow…okay, jeez! It's like you suddenly got ten times more powerful out of nowhere," he mumbled to himself, readjusting his spikes. "Where was that spirit like five minutes ago?!"

"Getting his nails done," I replied, continuing to head towards the town.

Mathias trudged after me reluctantly, his tail twitching with irritation. "You could just let me help you. I'm serious. If Tino and Berwald catch up to us, this whole trip is going to have no purpose. Lukas? Hey, Lukas? Are you listening? Hey! Hey!"

I spun to him. "Just be quiet. We're not going to get caught, because we aren't stopping. And don't get so familiar with me."

Heaving a heavy sigh, he finished his protests as we entered the village's center.

The moment we entered, something was immediately apparent to me. This village was completely empty, deserted. Buildings cracked and crumbled, the snow in drifts over my head…it seemed to have been empty for quite some time. Not a single footprint remained to signal that another soul had wandered through. Yet somehow, as the breeze rolled through, I was sure I could hear the gentle tinkling music of my song hanging on the wind.

"What is this?" I asked, unnerved by the ghost town.

"It used to be a trading center," Mathias murmured, sounding just as surprised as me. "It was known for being haunted by the lost soul of a human woman. Your mother, I presumed. Though no one could see her, they could feel her presence. Of course, in our world, ghosts are not uncommon things. But humans…humans don't come here. And that's why she became a legend for the citizens here." Gazing around, he seemed distracted by a memory…until his nose twitched and he turned on me, his eyes back to red. "Get down!" he growled, yanking me behind him. "Someone's coming. That magic-user I smelled before."

Pressing down, we hid from view as another man walked into the village, his black cloak waving like a flag in the breeze. From here it was difficult to tell, but his face seemed familiar…As if feeling our gazes, he turned his attention to us, his eyes a vibrant green as they focused in. Without moving his head, he pulled a large book from his cloak and gave a small grin as his mouth began to move.

Mathias growled. "A mage. He saw us, too. Damn it…"

"I feel like I've met him somewhere," I muttered absently.

"Well, I hope you have, because you're about to meet him again," Mathias spat, grabbing me and tossing me over his shoulders just as the building behind us started to fall to pieces.

I was sure he would fly us away from the danger, this wild-haired mage, but instead he landed right before the boy. "You want something from King Lukas?" he demanded, his voice low and threatening.

The mage smiled, removing the hood of his cloak. "Why, yes," he said, surprising me by speaking in English. "I'm rather glad I was finally able to track you two down. Lukas and I have some unfinished business we need to attend to."


	9. Pyre

**A fast update because I was sick today :) I hope you enjoy it~**

They faced each other, not breaking eye contact as Mathias puffed himself up in front of me like some sort of cat. "I…have no idea what you just said," he admitted, keeping his rigid posture. "But I don't like the way it sounded!"

The mage and I rolled our eyes in unison. So much for my fearless protector.

"Right," he sighed, looking through his spell book. "Ah, here it is. This should help you understand a little better." Waving his hand, a light kismet dust blew across Mathias's face. "Now can you understand me, imbecile? I said I've come to speak to Lukas. We have unfinished business regarding the creation of this world."

The demon blinked, wiping his eyes. "Whoa. What the hell did you just do? Wait, no, that's not important! What business? Who are you?"

He gave Mathias a hard glare. "I suppose even if you have heard of me, you've never seen my face. I am Arthur: mage, black magician, creator of this world of Norway. And I've come to speak with King Lukas about the payment which was promised to me. I don't believe I ever received it and it's about high time I did."

"Payment?" I wondered, trying to remember when I had met this man. He was so familiar, and yet I couldn't recall a single detail about our first encounter. "What payment did I promise you?"

Arthur frowned, saying, "When we first met and I created this world of your imagination, I requested that you bring me something in return. Convenient for you, not being able to remember. However, even if you escaped back to the real world before giving it to me, you're back now and I will not release you until I am paid. In full."

"And what did he promise you, exactly?" Mathias asked, not releasing his posture.

"The blood of a demon," he said, a smile stretching across his face. "I see you've procured the demon part, but the blood is still in his body. That won't do it. I'm going to need you to kill and drain him."

I stared at him, wondering if I had really promised such an awful thing to this man in return for this universe. Was I really that selfish? "And you say I swore I would give it to you?" I asked doubtfully.

His large eyebrows turned in. "Of course! What reason would I have to lie about it? I've been waiting for nearly a year now. The last thing I want is for this to take any longer."

Mathias looked at me, then back at Arthur, a growl rising in his throat again. "Well, even if that is what my king promised you, you aren't going to get it. He needs my blood for something else! So go find your own damn demon! As a mage, you could conjure one up yourself, couldn't you? "

"If it was that simple, I wouldn't have waited this long. The agreement was that he would get it and deliver it to me. I cannot just breach such a contract willy-nilly!"

The growl stopped. "Willy-nilly…" Mathias snickered.

I elbowed him forcefully in the side. "So you're saying that it must be Mathias's blood and no other demon's? That I promised you the blood means that I have to deliver it to you? Well then you will have to wait just a little bit longer. I'm using his blood for something else first, but then you can have all you want. I will no longer be around to care."

"What do you mean?" the Brit asked, not trusting me.

"I mean, I'll be using his blood to find my mother and leave this world. Permanently. So after I have departed, I give you full permission to take Mathias and do whatever you want with him." I could feel the wrongness of what I was saying like ice through my veins. It was cold…but it was what I needed to say.

Yet it was still difficult to ignore the lonely look that suddenly glazed over Mathias's eyes.

"I don't often take used merchandise," he deliberated, sizing up Mathias. "But with his blood, I would have full access to the hellish world his kind comes from, not to mention I could use it for some new spells I've been trying. Alright, I believe that will work for me." He took my hand, giving it a forceful shake that had black sparks igniting around it. "Now…what is all this about your mother? What on earth would you need demon blood for?"

I explained to him what my brother had told me, that weird prophecy that had sent me out on this mission in the first place. "He said something about 'the blood of Satan' and 'the heart of God' mixing together to create a key to my mother's secret kingdom. So I took him with me, because I figured he would be useful."

"And don't forget that my company is unmatched throughout all of Norway!" Mathias added. At my sharp look, he muttered, "What? You know that was part of it!"

Arthur clicked his tongue, shutting his book and storing it in his cloak. "It sounds as if your brother expected you to summon her. A black magic. It seems the secret kingdom he spoke of was simply the portal to her soul. He was telling you that you would need to mix the blood of a demon and an angel's kiss to release her from her current home. Simple and easy. In fact, you could have probably done it without going on this journey from the beginning."

My body began trembling, rage building inside me again. I dug my hand into Mathias's overcoat, digging my fingers in and turning him to look at me. "You knew," I spat accusingly. "You knew that, didn't you?! You knew that we didn't have to go anywhere and you still dragged me on this journey! What was your goal? What were you thinking?" I could feel my whole body decrease in temperature, m y hands turning frigid.

He flinched away from my anger, but met my eyes. "I didn't know for sure. I thought if we went to the village that she was said to haunt, we would have an easier time finding her and figuring out the riddle. There's that, and…I wanted to get to know you more, King Lukas. The more I learn about who you've become, the more I want to keep you here by my side. I really do love you, even if you won't believe me when I say it."

"You're right; I do not, cannot, and will not believe you. Ever. A demon is a demon, and I refuse to give any part of myself to someone like you!" Shaking violently, my hands turned to claws of ice where I had gripped him, shredding the soft piece of cloth.

"Is that what you think?" he hissed, grabbing me by my own jacket. "You think you won't give me anything? Because I'm sure that we had an agreement. Tonight, you'll give me your virginity. And then you won't be so pure yourself, will you? You won't be a slate of untouched white snow anymore."

For a moment, I forgot that we had an audience, looking into Mathias's passionate, blazing ruby irises. I felt the heat of his touch on me, felt the fear he evoked in me, felt some unwanted desire flash through me as I clutched at him. I didn't want to be taken in by his allure, and yet I knew somehow that I wouldn't mind him staining my purity with scarlet hands. Still, I forced myself to let go, brought my icy claw to the wounds on my shoulder and neck. The moment the skin was met with the coolness, relief spread through me. So Erick had been right about my healing powers.

"I won't back out of the deal," I informed him. "You will have tonight. But if you're going to paint my slate, it better be a decent picture. Otherwise, I may forget you altogether when I'm gone."

"Oh, disgusting," Arthur said, making a face. "This is too much information. I didn't know you were dating the demon."

"I'm not. We had a bet…I didn't lose, but I suppose I didn't win, either. Regardless, I will keep to my word and give Mathias what he wants," I explained, never looking away from my demonic bodyguard. "As long as he also meets my requirement."

Arthur's nose wrinkled. "Please. Anyway, I think we should probably summon your mother now, don't you think? Let's do this quickly. You will get to your home dimension, I will get my demon blood…we'll all be quite happy."

"No!" Mathias snarled suddenly, scaring me. Then, realizing how feral he'd sounded, he repeated more calmly, "No…I mean, not yet. The sun is just starting to set. It's almost night time. If we summon his mother now, he won't be able to fulfill his promise to me. So just give us tonight…and in the morning, if he still wants to go…That's his choice."

"Ugh, fine. If that's what it will take to get what I need, then I will wait until tomorrow. But be ready at dawn. I am already sick of waiting, and I don't want to wait longer just because you two have decided to have some ungodly, immoral relations with each other." Sparing one more look for me, he snapped and exploded into a puff of dark green powder that was quickly stolen by the wind.

I watched him go, a strange feeling in my stomach as Mathias took my hand with a gentle smile, his eyes going back to blue. "Let's get something to eat! Since this used to be a trading post, I'm sure they have all kinds of food around here. And the meat always keeps, since it's so cold here. Ah, I can't wait…I hope they have some raw snow bear somewhere! That would be the best last meal ever!"

I noted his tone change, the stress hidden skillfully beneath carelessness. He was just as nervous as me. "Last meal?" I asked. "What do you mean? Just because I'm leaving doesn't mean you need to stop eating."

"I'm not going to stop eating because I want to. King Lukas, you promised me to Arthur after you leave…do you honestly expect him to keep me alive? He wants my blood, and he wants me dead." He gave me a sorrowful grin. "After you use me up, there will be no will to live left. What is this world without you for me but endless days of winter? I love you. And being without you for eternity is a lot to take in. That's why I won't protest you giving me to the mage. You've done me a favor by finding me a way out."

"Do you really think that?" I wondered, feeling the unfamiliar feeling of guilt. "You want to die…if I leave with no intention of returning? But what about all this time you've spent without me here?"

"I know what it's like now. It was…it's hard to describe. But at least then, I had the hope that you would return here to be with me. Now I know I'll never get to see you again. I'm not really the type of guy who can just live on pleasant memories."

I looked down at the snow crunching under my feet. "You seem like you would be. You're cheerful enough to get by without me. Maybe you could even find someone else to love."

He turned on me again, pain lacing every muscle in his face as he whispered, "If I could…do you think I would have waited this long for you? But this is your world, and you've made it so I have no choice. You will always be the only one I can ever love. I'm trapped by your imagination."

This twisted, sick world that I had dreamed…everyone here was stuck forever in a never-ending, dangerous winter. "If I wake up, you'll be free from me. You can live your own life. You can find someone else to fall in love with. Or…"

Mathias shook his head, digging through a promising-looking store front. "It won't work unless you change our relationship. And then, I don't really want that, Lukas!" He smiled, pulling out a giant leg of some frozen, nasty meat. "Bingo! Hell yeah! Snow bear!"

As if it was the natural thing to do, he tore off a piece and handed it to me before stuffing his own face with the rest of it. I stared down at it in disdain, wondering what had possessed him to think I would want to eat this. "I'm not that hungry," I muttered, handing him the meat back. "You can have it."

"But you gotta eat something!" Mathias protested. "Here, I'll heat it up for you!" His hands blazed with flames. "How do you like your meat?" he asked suggestively.

I decided to mess with him. "Hot and slathered with sauce," I said, licking my lips.

"But I don't have any sauce," Mathias replied, looking fascinated.

"I guess you'll just have to improvise then, won't you?" What was I thinking, flirting with him like this? He was bound to take me seriously and attack me…but maybe that was what I wanted. It would certainly get this night over with more quickly. "Use your imagination."

And just like that, the earlier argument was over and forgotten. I was in his arms, his mouth pressed hotly against mine. I could taste the raw snow bear on his tongue, yet somehow I was still pulling him closer. I kept telling myself that I didn't want him… but at the same time, it was obvious I wanted him more than I would ever be able to understand. I was tired of fighting; giving into my desires was much easier when he was touching me like this. His fingers left trails of heated goosebumps where they caressed, melting the last of my defenses as he pulled me into the nearest building and pressed me against the wall.

The cold, crumbling bricks cut into my back uncomfortably through the fog that was starting to cloud over my brain, but I ignored them. I couldn't control the gasp that came out of my throat as his hand slid into my pants, teasing me, rubbing me…Closing my eyes, I let my mind wander far away from the moment, no matter how good it felt. This was not what I really wanted. I didn't love him, and he knew that, and still he forced himself on me like this. We would have sex, and that would be the end of it. Then I would convince him to stay alive before I left for good.

More than anything this dimension could offer me, I wanted to go home. For once, I was willing to take my father's abuses. If that meant my life would return to normal, where I was simply a childish sixteen-year-old prince, then I would take all the beatings in the world. If that meant not seeing my mother ever again, I would cherish the last moment I had with her. If that meant finding a wife and taking over the kingdom, I would do it. I just wanted to be me again.

It happened exactly the way it had the first time; one moment, I was slipping into a dream, and the next I was a spirit, floating inside of my real room on earth. Human Mathias was still right beside my lifeless corpse, but this time he did not look up and smile at me. Rather, he seemed to be holding the body's hand and looking at in fear. There were moans coming from those cold, blue lips that I didn't recognize; I sounded like I was actually dying.

"Lukas," he groaned, leaning his head onto my chest. "Please hold on. Please. Your father's out getting help right now. I had no idea he loved you that much…but under the way he treats you, he's just a doting parent. So I'm begging you, get better. I know you can do this. I know you can survive."

It was heartbreaking, watching him cling to me with those desperate words.

Wanting to see him flash his normal, warm smile again, I floated down towards the bed, sitting down on the edge right beside him. "Mathias, I'm still alive. I'll be seeing you soon, so quit worrying already."

He didn't respond, as if he hadn't heard me at all. "This is all my fault…" he lamented.

"Mathias!" I yelled, trying to grab his arm. My hand breezed right through him, as if I really were a ghost. "No. It isn't your fault. Mathias, listen to me, you idiot!"

My body gave a gasping cough that had me cringing. Was I really dying in this world? How long had I actually been unconscious? Mathias looked as if he had gotten taller, his hair fractionally longer. Maybe I had waited too long to try to get back home.

"No…" Mathias whispered, his eyes filling with tears. "Prince Lukas, shh." He brushed a hand through my sweaty hair. "Shh…don't worry. You're going to be okay. You have to be. We'll get you out of that dimension. You said you'd come back and I know you didn't lie to me."

This was the Mathias that I had been trying so hard to see in that demon. This sweet, unequivocal gentleness that made me feel safe. The way he treated me with love, even when he knew I wasn't there, made my heart hurt with longing. He was an idiot, but I wanted him by my side.

Abandoning the effort to communicate with him, I sat down and watched him for awhile, until my wheezing stopped. Even then, he kept his eyes on me diligently, ready to hold my hand if I had another episode. Halfway through observing, my father came in with the man that I could only assume was the help he had gone and fetched. Despite being the one to poison me, he was also looking at my ill body with real worry now that he thought I didn't know.

"And you say he ingested some toxins how long ago, Your Majesty?" the doctor asked, taking off his stethoscope and listening to my heart.

"A couple of months ago. He's been unconscious since," my father answered gruffly, shame filling his eyes.

The doctor nodded. "Well, I'll do what I can, but he's not in good shape. First, I'll give him and injection and we'll go from there…" He took out a long needle, jabbing it into my arm.

As the cloudy liquid shot through my veins, I felt my spirit in this world begin to flicker. I was waking up from my daze in the other dimension. Sighing, I took one last look at the teary blue eyes of my bodyguard and let myself be taken away. The piercing pain in my butt and the soft, even snoring of demon Mathias beside me alerted me that I was back. It was over. I exhaled heavily, my hand groping around for some form of clothing to cover my bruised, naked body.


	10. Permafrost

**Wow, I can't believe how long it has taken me to finish this story! But when you're busy, you're busy, i guess. I'm sorry about the year long update thing, and hopefully it will never happen again :( As it is, anyone who has read this, i'm glad you made it to the end and i appreciate it with my whole heart! Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and have a great day :D **

The dawn came much too slowly for my liking. Several hours ticked by as I lay there on the frigid stone, curled in on myself, trying to keep my thoughts straight. I had allowed Mathias to do these things to me, I told myself. It hadn't been against my will. It had simply been a stepping stone on the way out of these deep, awful waters. Yet the nauseous feeling of stress wouldn't pass, the fear of the demon beside me waking up filling me with anxiety. What would he say to me to try and make me stay here? What powers would he use to grasp at my heart? If he looked at me with sorrow in his eyes and begged me never to leave him…how would I react? My racing thoughts had my pulse pounding in my ears.

As the sun arose in the horizon, I watched the plethora of colors from my spot on the floor through an arched, crumbling window. Beauty like the rise of another morning across alabaster snow…it was unmatchable, even here. It was almost time to find my mother, to escape this place. With sudden urgency, I hauled myself into a sitting position despite the protests of my muscles. I was going home. With Arthur's help, this nightmare was going to end. Hope battled with despair as I walked outside into the early morning to find a clear new day awaiting my arrival.

"Splendid morning, isn't it?" a bored voice sighed.

I turned to find Arthur lounging against the building beside me. His hair was blowing unkempt in the breeze, and he was wearing the same cloak he had been before. "Strangely," I agreed. "Calmer than usual, for this place."

His vibrant green eyes were trained on the ground, eyebrows turned in. "Yes…and the demon is, um, still asleep, correct?"

"It would seem so."

He seemed embarrassed, I thought, the pale skin of his cheeks turning pink.

Arthur kicked a bit of snow, one of his eyes closing in a winking fashion as he pulled out his spell book and mumbled, "Has he harmed you badly?" Seeming to realize what he was saying, he pressed on, his speech panicked. "Not that I actually care about you or anything, you see, it's just that if you were to be harmed this spell wouldn't work and... if it didn't work, my prestigious title as mage could be threatened! So you'd better be well!"

I stared at his awkwardness for a moment in surprise before saying, "He did no permanent damage. The spell should work just fine."

Scowling, he said, "Great. Perhaps we should go wake him up now, in order to officially end this madness."

My heart contracted with insensible fear. "I suppose I have no other choice, since his blood is needed in this ritual." Swallowing back my nervousness, I took a step inside the building to where Mathias still lay sleeping on the floor.

His mouth was turned up in a fanged grin, his head pillowed on his arms, and again I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for what I was about to do to him. He was sloppy, disgusting, childish, nothing anyone would ever want in their partner. But then again, he was as loyal as one person could ever be; he was even going to go so far as to die when I left him. Maybe…maybe he loved me, in the only way he could. He was mature enough to know when to give up, at least. Fighting back the decent side of my heart that wanted to let him off the hook for what he had done to me, I gave his passed out figure a sharp kick to the side. Regardless of whether I was having these thoughts or not, I would never let him know I had considered letting him love me.

"OW!" he yelped, flying to his feet unsteadily and grabbing for _Mogens._ "Who's there?" Seeing me, he sobered immediately, a smile flickering to his face and then disappearing just as quickly. "Lukas…right…today's the day, huh? You get to go home again. How are you holding up?"

I crossed my arms, stalking outside. "Much better than you." Turning to Arthur, I muttered, "Let's just get this over with. I don't want to think about this anymore."

"Agreed. I'll send you on your way, then. Come here, demon," the mage demanded, grabbing Mathias's arm and conjuring up a pot and wickedly sharp knife. "For a summoning, I'll only need about a fistful of your blood, so I'm simply slicing your palm. It'd be best for you if you didn't fidget." Holding the blade in one hand and his book in the other, he cut a ragged wound across Mathias's hand, the blood oozing into the pot in a torrent of scarlet. Arthur squeezed the cut for a moment, his careful eyes watching it drip. "Alright, that's enough."

Mathias, holding his injury, stepped back with a deep scowl.

"That's good. Now for 'the heart of God' as you put it." Arthur motioned me forward, as if expecting me to give it to him. "Come on. It's a kiss that I need from you."

I made a face. "I have to kiss you? That's…strange and unexpected."

He gave an impatient sigh. "No! Not me, you git. You have to kiss the demon's blood!"

"I have to kiss Mathias's blood? This ritual is unsanitary," I grumbled as I moved forward, even more disturbed by this than the thought of kissing a British stranger. "I could catch some sort of disease."

Arthur crossed his arms and said, "If you were going to catch his diseases, it's likely you already would have caught them by now, what with your unspeakable relations together. That aside, this is taking longer than it should. Hurry it up. Don't you want to see your mother and hurry home soon?"

With a sullen nod, I dropped to the ground and slowly put my head into the cauldron. It smelled awful in here, irony and acidic. I could feel the scent burning my nostrils as I shoved my lips against the putrid, ruby red liquid, the taste forcing its way into my mouth. Startled, I yanked my head out with a gag, spitting in disgust and wiping at my face with my sleeve; despite my efforts, the taste of salty, burning metal would not vanish. Arthur laughed at my reaction but before I could snap at him, he had poured out some form of golden elixir to join the concoction we had created and suddenly it was bubbling wildly, streaming over the sides of the pot and smoking where it collided with the snow.

"Perfect," Arthur said, obviously satisfied. "Now I just have to draw the pentagram and we should be able to raise her."

I gave a nod to show that I was ready, watching as he moved about the town center. For the first time in so long, I was about to see my mother again. The memories I had of her were ones from a long distance, their quality fuzzy and unclear. All I knew of her was the song she had left me, the one that I could sometimes hear blowing through the air when it was quiet enough. Would she be the same beautiful woman I remembered, with hair so blonde it was nearly white and a smile that warmed even the coldest days? I wondered if she could fill this part of my heart that had become painfully empty the day she had died. To know she was resting peacefully up in heaven would be the only thing that could possibly do it, if anything could. Suddenly, I was wishing for Erick and _Far_ to be here with me, so that their pain could also be eased alongside mine.

"Okay, here we go," Arthur called as he finished up the pentagram. He took the pot of yellow, bubbling liquid and poured it across the area, the spaces in the snow beginning to fill in and glow like they had been inlaid with stars to the sound of Arthur's menacing chanting.

"This is it," Mathias whispered, and though I knew he wasn't speaking to me, but to himself, I turned to see his blue eyes fill with the same sadness I had been so afraid to witness.

In that moment, he looked more human than I had ever seen him.

I moved toward him, taking his hand in mine and watching his eyes widen with surprise. "Look. There's so many things I could, should, and would say at this moment if I was nice. But I'm not. So this is all I have. I've been confused since the day I met you here in this ridiculous land that's my so-called utopia. You wear the same face as the Mathias I had met in the world where I come from and even share some traits. It's taken a lot to make myself accept this, but I have; I said you were a cheap knock-off of my Mathias…well, I was wrong to say something so awful. It's not your fault you look like him since I created you. And I just want you to know that you aren't. I finally see that you are your own person, just like everybody else here in Norway." I furrowed my eyebrows, turning away and squeezing his hand. "This isn't my home, but it has been one of the greatest adventures of my life being stuck here with all of you. It's hard to tell you how I feel, but I'm going to do my best. Mathias…I want you to live. I know it's selfish and horrible and cruel, but I want you to live here and wait for me to return again."

Mathias took a shaky breath, his hand trembling under mine as he processed my statement. "But my king…you said you would never return! And how can I do that when you promised my life to the mage?"

I looked up at him, hoping that I was conveying every emotion I had with my eyes. "Run from him the moment I vanish. Run back to the kingdom and stay there with the rest of our family until I come back. I promise you if you do that, I will return."

"Lukas…" He seemed unable to speak. "How can I trust that you'll come again?"

Wistfully, I smiled. "I have once before, haven't I?"

He grinned back, fire behind his sapphire eyes now. "Yeah. Yeah, you have."

I set my attention back to Arthur, who was still chanting before the glowing pentagram. With every word he spoke, the light seemed to dance, growing higher and higher, the color darkening to a spectacular silver color as it boiled. Finally, after another moment, there was a horrible exploding sound and I clutched at the fiery hand beneath mine as the world turned to complete whiteness. When I opened my eyes again, I was alone in an empty universe, nothing but soft fluff underneath me. My grip on Mathias had gone, as had Arthur…it was simply me, and nothing else.

"Mother?" I whispered into the eerie silence. "Mom? Are you here?"

As I spoke, a small tinkling noise began at the very left edge of my hearing. It grew louder and louder, and I could tell it was coming towards me now. My eyes followed the noise, followed it meticulously as it grew closer to where I stood. Focusing hard through the miles of white, I saw that in the distance, the figure of a woman wearing a billowing, loose crème colored dress was drifting over to me. My heart stuttered, a lump forming in my throat. Even from here, I could see the wings that descended from her back, the feathers blowing soft and downy with each movement she made.

My mother was singing me my lullaby.

I couldn't help myself; I ran towards her without thinking about, desiring her warmth, her embrace, the love that only she had possessed for me. Vulnerability that I hadn't allowed myself to show before my father since her death flowed through me, and I couldn't stop a few tears from escaping as she opened her arms to me. It no longer mattered that I was going to be a king someday, that I was supposed to be some fearless ruler who kept cool under pressure and made all the right decisions. When I hugged her to me, I was just a child who had missed his mother very, very badly.

She stroked my hair, kissing my head and crying too. Her appearance was just as I remembered it, if not more beautiful due to the fact that she belonged to God now. Her voice was still as smooth as silk and as she sang to me, I was no longer afraid of what the future had in store for me.

"Mom," I said again, unable to help myself. "I missed you. Father and Erick did too."

"I know, Lukas," she assured me. "I've missed you all more than I can say. It's so good to see you all grown up…you've become a man so quickly. Erick, as well. But our time together is limited now, and I know there are some things you want to ask me for."

Staring at her, I didn't want to let her go for a second, didn't want to leave her side. But there were other people who loved me waiting for me to wake up and it was my duty to return to them. "That's right." I was reluctant to look away from her face for any reason, in fear that this too was a dream, but I had to close my eyes to clear my head. I shut them, shaking my head quickly and opening them. When she still remained in my arms, I smiled and kissed her cheek. "Mom, I'm not certain how much I am allowed to wish for, so I've decided upon two things. Is that alright?"

Her returning grin was brilliant. "If they are within my power, I will give them to you, love."

"I want to go back home to earth," I choked out. "I want to wake up at the palace and live the life I was meant to live. But as well as that… I beg you to protect the Mathias of this dimension. Keep him safe from Arthur's harm so that someday, somehow…I can come see him again. That's my second desire; to be able to come back to Norway whenever I please and see the family I have created here."

I could tell by the look on her face that she was pleased, her satin hand brushing against the skin of my cheek. "I couldn't have asked for a better son. You've done everything right, including realizing that you have two families now." She lifted up her hand and suddenly, an angel made of crystal appeared in her palm. "Carry this with you from now on. Whenever you wish to be brought to this dimension, hold the pendant in your hand and make sure you get it nice and warm. You'll be brought here very quickly. The same goes for the other way; when you're in this Norway, make sure the pendant becomes as cold as ice, and you will be teleported back to your body at home. Fire and ice are two worlds working together in harmony."

Taking the small charm in my hand, I enclosed in my fist and tried to breathe steadily. "Thank you. Thank you so much, Mom."

"You're welcome, Lukas. Now, it's nearly time for me to go again, but before I do, I want you to hear something. This is a message you may relay to your father, as well. Our kingdom must be led and our rule must continue for generations, but it's not always required to do it in the traditional way. Do you understand, love? You are your own person. Lead how you feel you must lead. Don't let the way it has always been done change who you are." She laughed then, poking my nose. "I'll send you back on that note. There's someone very special to you who is waiting for you to wake up. Treat him well, Lukas, even though it may be difficult sometimes."

I clutched her hand once more, taking a deep breath. "I love you," I found myself saying. "Someday, I hope you speak with Erick and Father again, too."

"Don't worry, darling; I'll be speaking with them in their dreams very soon," she promised. "I love you as well, and I know you'll do Norway proud when you take over the throne." With that, she placed her lips on my forehead, and I was falling through the snow into darkness, wondering if all of that had just been a dream of my creation as well.

* * *

><p>"…His vitals are improving. It seems the toxin has finally run its course. The prince will be with us at any momen-"<p>

"Lukas! Lukas, can you hear me? Lukas!"

I heard a gruff cough. "How dare you address your prince so informally, you rat! You will refer to him as Prince Lukas!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I apologize," Mathias said, the sound of his easy voice sending relief coursing through my tired body.

Finally, after so long, I was home again. I struggled against exhaustion to open my eyes, to see the real world which I had missed so much. He was there, leaning over me, his hand warm but no longer fiery in mine as he waited for me to wake up. This was my Mathias. As our eyes met, I could see the emotion swimming there, the need to embrace me written all over his face. And yet…I turned my head to see my father, his expression as hard and unreadable as usual. Still, even that brought me immeasurable happiness. I really was home on earth, where I belonged.

"Prince Lukas," Mathias finally said, with that breathtaking smile that I loved on his ridiculous face. "Welcome back!"

The doctor stood up with a satisfied nod, checking me over once more. "Your Majesty, all seems to be well with the prince at this moment. I will leave you some medication and please be sure he drinks a lot of fluids. Call me if any other troubles seem to arise. As he is now, I believe I shall move on to my next appointment." With a bow for my father, he exited the room.

I sat tensely, waiting for my father to scold me for being weak or yell about something else I had no control over. Instead, he just came over and brushed a hand across my filthy hair, his eyes tender as he looked upon me for the first time I could remember. "I am so sorry, son. I am so very sorry." Honesty rang in every tone, his regret over his actions obvious.

"I forgive you," I whispered, my voice surprisingly strong.

Trying to hold back tears, he nodded once in my direction and then staggered out after the doctor, my forgiveness apparently unexpected. The moment he was gone, Mathias's arms were around me and he was hugging me with all he had, his spiky hair brushing against my cheek. Too startled to feign annoyance, my arms went around him, too, and we sat like that, locked together for a long, long time.

"So, Lukas, how did that weird 'dream' end?" Mathias asked after a while, his hand still locked in mine. "Y'know, the one where I was a demon?"

I looked at him, surprised that he had remembered my first visit to him so long ago. "I saw my Mom again. She sang to me and gave me a pendant." I searched my pockets for the little crystal angel, only to find it empty. "It's gone…perhaps it was really a dream after all…"

Mathias frowned. "But how can it be a dream when you visited me as a spirit? Don't worry about it; we'll look around for it later. For now, you look completely wiped. I think you should probably go to sleep."

"I suppose you're right," I gave in, closing my eyes and letting my mind drift.

"Hey! How about I get the music box Tino made you and sing that song?" I heard him get up and shuffle things around, until he made a noise of triumph and took my hand in his again. "Here goes…whoa. Is this the pendant, Lukas?"

My lids shot open and I turned to see him holding the crystal angel in between his forefinger and thumb. I held out my hand, letting him drop it in, and both Mathias and I watched with amazement as it righted itself perfectly in my palm. "Yes," I said, unable to help myself from smiling. "This is it."

He gave a cheerful grin. "Hey, I've never seen you smile before. Cool!"

I made myself frown, much to his amusement, but inside I was happier than I ever thought I could have been. Clutching the angel tightly in my hand, I closed my eyes again and lay back, completely worn out. "You can sing now. And kiss me goodnight before I fall asleep."

"Yes, my prince," Mathias chuckled. "Your wish is my command." As the music started to trickle out from the box in his hands, he bent over and pressed his lips gently on mine for a moment, before he pulled away and started to sing my song.

Drifting into sleep once again, mixing eerily with the sound of Mathias's voice, I could have sworn a violin was playing the exact same melody.


End file.
